#then he has to apologize because Mike is a stupid kid who loves Steve in his own way

[grandwretch]

i so badly want one of those fic examinations of steve's relationship with joyce and hopper but solely through eddie's pov like hear me out

steve and eddie chat a lot in the upside down (and later in the hospital, when they learn hop is alive). steve has taken charge of filling eddie in on the rest of their of-age crew without the kids butting in. he never mentions his own parents, but he talks about the rest of the party's a lot, especially joyce and hopper. eddie knows what it's like to desperately want someone to be your parent and trying to hide it from his own childhood, when he would try to be cool about wayne dropping him off at his dad's house. steve obviously adores joyce and hopper, thinks the world of them and legitimately looks up to them.

eddie isn't sure what he expects from a cop who came back to life and the world's most determined housewife, but he's excited to meet them as someone steve loves.

cue eddie's horror when he realizes that neither of them really feel much for steve rather than annoyance and vague distrust. that joyce trusts will with eddie, an accused murderer, in a heartbeat and still hesitates to leave him with steve. that hopper brushes off every ounce of steve's hero worship and joy.

he tries to broach the topic with steve, gently, and is heartbroken when steve genuinely has no idea what he's talking about. and not because he's oblivious, but because steve thinks that's what he deserves. he thinks that's the parental love that someone who was an asshole in high school needs, because that's what would make him a good person. he needs people to call him out constantly, obviously, because why else would they keep doing it? why would nancy? at least they're here. at least they're not ignoring him. at least they're not forcing him into a box. they just want him to be better.

like, this is the man who thanked a girl for calling him bullshit and telling him she never loved him. he doesn't Know that's not how you're supposed to handle things. no one ever taught him that.

and now eddie's gotta figure out how he can teach steve how to be loved the right way without outing himself and his huge crush on his love-starved dork of a friend.

#shut up az #steddie #i just had the flash of eddie in a hospital bed staring up at hopper and the way he talks to steve in horror #like hopper saying something off the cuff about how he's not surprised there was so much collateral with steve in charge #and eddie thinking about steve always putting himself in harm's way #and the way steve got mauled by bats way before eddie did and then KEPT. GOING. but no one is mentioning that #no one is mentioning that steve was the first one of their group physically hurt by this. #and steve is just nodding like he agrees and eddie doesn't want to be rude bc these ppl are obviously Important to his friends #and then Mike comes in later and says something Mike-y and Eddie snaps at him #then he has to apologize because Mike is a stupid kid who loves Steve in his own way #and Eddie shouldn't blame him for the behavior of adults who should no better just because Mike is an easier target #anyway Eddie doesn't know how to have parents right either so he ropes Jeff and Lucas and Gareth and Robin into OP: Teach Steve Self-Worth

[undreaming-fanfiction]

I am absolutely in agreement with everyone who noted that the Party (especially Dustin) don't treat Steve great during S4, with the "Do you need to be told everything?" comments and such. So let me offer a slightly different explanation than them simply believing Steve is not cool/ is stupid.

Dustin is going through puberty. Yes, all of the boys are, the girls too, and what does one do during this hormonal time in their life? Rebel.

Now of course, all of the kids rebel to a certain degree, Max would have possibly entered the angsty phase even without going through all the crap with Billy and her mom, Eleven rebelled against Hopper during the summer of 1985, Mike has been a little shit for years (summer of 1985 solidified that), Lucas threw himself into sports to deal with the restless energy. Will is too anxious to allow himself to let go, but he withdraws into himself, working through things on his own. So what does make Dustin a special case?

Dustin doesn't have a father. But unlike Will who has Jonathan, Dustin's only proper authority is his mother and he'd never, ever hurt her by acting like an asshole towards her. She is anxious, he's the only important thing in her life, she says and Dustin believes her. He loves her deeply, but he's afraid to tip the fragile balance, she worries so much yet gives him all the freedom he wants. He could never repay her trust with being angry or moody.

Enter Steve. Steve isn't that much older than Dustin, but he's the only stable male influence Dustin has had so far. He often acts like the voice of reason, like an older brother that Dustin never had. And even when Eddie enters his life, it's different - Eddie is cool, but he hasn't been through all the crap with Dustin and Steve, he doesn't know what it's like. Dustin admires Eddie, looks up to him, but he doesn't have the deep level of trust with him that he has with Steve. So when the urge to rebel rears its ugly head, Steve is usually at the receiving end because he's the only one Dustin trusts enough to believe he'll handle it.

I'd like to imagine Dustin only becomes this bitchy when he's stressed. Maybe he snaps at Steve when he doesn't catch up as soon as Dustin thinks he should, but that doesn't mean he feels good about it. We see in S4 that Steve and Dustin have the sort of dynamic when one of them knows they overstepped and will apologize. And maybe it takes Dustin a bit longer to settle down and think about what things he says and how he says them, but does figure it out eventually.

After Steve's shift, when he's alone in his parents' house - no date today, Dustin always knows about Steve's pursuits - the phone rings and when he picks up, he hears Dustin's voice, clearing his throat. "Hi Steve. I just wanted to say that I thought about the talk we had today, about you not getting things, and it wasn't cool of me to say. You don't make fun of me when I don't get things in PE and so I shouldn't do this either. So - I'm sorry."

Steve smiles against the receiver and closes his eyes. Dustin's insults may sting in the moment, but he's always known he is a good kid, now a good young man. He's not a bully, not like Steve used to be. "Apology accepted, man. Thanks for saying that."

Dustin needs someone to rebel against and it's not fair to Steve that he's the one. But when he messes up, he makes sure to fix it, because Steve is not his friend out of obligation, they chose each other and that means everything. So yes, he will bitch that Steve doesn't carry a flashlight around like he does, but he will pack an extra one, just in case.

#stranger things #stranger things headcanon #st hc #strangerthings #strangerthingsheadcanon #dustin henderson #the party #steve harrington

[fanatics4l]

the way billy would've fit in with any of the groups in s4. yes i am going to speak about this. (this got long)

cali group: billy in his natural habitat would've been absolutely amazing. the trio smoking weed together?? billy being extra dramatic and sassy when he's high. if they're high enough, those boys will commit minor felonies together! argyle always supports his boys when they're screaming about their broken love lives (jonathan crying about nancy and billy being a sad little gay). billy would be screaming so dramatically while hauling that dead dude into the van and then complaining about how his clothes got all bloody the next second. he'd be cheering argyle on as he drives while the others all scream in terror in the back, trying to stop the bleeding. billy would adore the shit out of will, another gay. they'd bond over how shitty boys are and how they have no options but at least in cali, there are more willing boys. billy would always tell will to forget about mike and jonathan would agree very loudly. billy definitely would've absolutely non stop GLARED at mike after will confessed and mike didn't catch the hint. him and el would've been amazing together because they can bond over their abusive dads and pretty moms. el and will go to billy (the cooler big brother, sorry jon) to rant about mike. billy would terrorize the shit out of angela and her stupid friends for even thinking of messing with el.

hawkins gang: no offence but the hawkins older teens gang are all the same people in different fonts. sure nancy and robin were badasses that one episode but they're good girls at heart. steve is also a good guy at heart. so is eddie but in a drug dealing dork way. billy would've been a great addition with his loud personality and being a takes-no-bullshit kind of guy. he would insult each of them (him and robin roast each other) but be a lot of help. physically, he's probably the strongest and he'd be great at thinking up quick escape plans.

robin and billy would've been an unstoppable queer duo who are also potty mouths and anxious kids with obvious tells (shaking and stuttering). nancy and billy would've constantly been at each other's throats and it would've been great comedy. billy definitely got in the way of steve and nancy flirting because gross. eddie and billy would've easily bonded about their similar taste in music. if he saw eddie perform metallica on the roof, that boy's clothes would've flew off so fast and he'd start twirling his hair all giggly. we could've finally seen more of steve and billy's homosexual flirting and fighting. they would be reluctant friends and billy would have so much trouble trying not to flirt with steve. robin would cough really loud when billy stares at steve all lovey dovey. harringrove would've been amazing in s4

hawkins gang (younger teens): billy and lucas would've become besties on the court. we could've seen him apologize to lucas and then offer to teach him basketball so he isn't always on the bench every game. billy always hypes lucas up when he is in a game. he takes him and max out for shakes after practice, and max starts to hate the fact that her boyfriend and her brother are friends. lucas definitely grows taller than billy and he has the absolute best time of his life making fun of billy, who threatens to stop giving lucas rides everywhere.

let's say vecna still targets max: billy would 100% stay with max and lucas at creel's house because no way in hell is he leaving his sister behind with a literal demon that could kill her. when jason arrives, he fights him instead of lucas so max survives. plus we know that max and billy's relationship was getting a lot better between end of s2 and start of s3 so if billy survived, those two would literally be evil chaotic siblings who torment everyone around them with a smile. lucas is very scared. erica would love billy because they're both sassy and take no bullshit from the people around them. billy would tease lucas whenever erica yells at him. dustin would probably reluctantly accept billy as part of the gang because everyone else accepts him.

russia gang: hopper, joyce, and murray (billy's a weird kid and murray likes weird) would immediately adopt billy. in this au, billy is probably with hopper in russia and then joyce and murray find them. hopper is the absolute sweetest with billy and he's very gentle with him because he sees how terrified billy is. he also misses his kid so he takes another one in. he explains to billy what the upside down is and what happened to him. they share a cell so when billy has nightmares about the mind flayer, hopper is always there for him. when he has nightmares about his dad, hopper hugs billy close and lets the poor boy cry. he sees red when billy tells him how his dad treats him all the time and swears to never let him go back to that man ever again. billy starts seeing hopper as his dad.

billy helps out in all of hopper's escape plans. when the russians make them line up in front of the demogorgan, billy starts hyperventilating but hopper and enzo reassure him that they'll be okay. they're like his overprotective dads because wtf why is a literal child here in this high tech russian prison. when joyce and murray show up, joyce is all motherly with him and she immediately starts bundling him up in layers. she doesn't let him do any fighting. she makes him stick with her and when he argues that he can help, the other adults also agree that he needs to rest. if billy was in this gang in s4, he could've also healed as a person and become better because now he knows what love is. like hopper and joyce tell him all the time, love doesn't hurt his body or his feelings. billy ends up getting adopted by hopper and joyce and murray is like his crazy uncle.

the duffers were too much of cowards to do this!!!! billy would've been unstoppable

#billy hargrove #will byers #eleven #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #jim hopper #joyce byers #jonathan byers #argyle #billy hargrove deserved better #we were ROBBEDDDD #stranger things headcanons

[huntingpeople-savingsam]

Time to defend Jonathan Byers

I think Jonathan as a character gets either put up on a pedestal or dragged through the mud solely dependent on the ship preferences of the person doing the dragging or pedestal-ing. And he’s so much more than that.

I think some people also in particular this season have a problem with him becoming a stoner, which I personally think was a nice little comedic relief break for him. But whatever your thoughts on him smoking some weed may be, here’s why I think Jonathan has grown as a character over the last 4 seasons in many ways for the better and some others for the worse.

I think the show started off with him representing a very specific trope that was that familiar crossover we see a lot between “nice guy” and “I’m a weirdo, I don’t fit in”. But since then he’s grown a lot.

While in season 1 his view of other people is somewhat limited to he subconsciously thinks he’s better than the other teens who party or play sports etc and this is somewhat justified because those are some of the same people who bullied him. Less cool that while developing a closer friendship with Nancy and he sees her undressing at Steve’s house that he takes pictures and he thinks it’s okay because “he’s the only one who sees her for who she is” or whatever. Not cool, and to be fair, he apologizes for this.

But going forward with the show he starts to stray away from the more laid back (at least when his family is safe) albeit pretentious artsy, edgy kid and as his relationship with Nancy develops in S3, he starts thinking about his own life, rather than solely focusing on his family. But now, given the chance not to worry so much again, he still is. Now he’s worried about working for the newspaper and confronting Nancy for risking their jobs which is valid up until he resorts back to season 1 condescending, I-know-better-than-you remarks that aren’t far off from how he made fun of Nancy’s relationship with Steve in season 1. “You thought you were gonna be star reporter in a month? Crack the big case?!” In a lot of ways, his relationship with Nancy takes him back to his early high school days of thinking he’s better and knows better than the other “normal” kids. He expresses that same behavior even when trying to comfort Will in season 2 with his whole “freaks rule the world” while looking down on everyone else.

Now in season 4, I think he’s had his greatest development as a character yet. And not solely because now he smokes weed. He finally has a chance to relax about his family a little and just “be a stupid teenager” but more than that he makes friends with someone completely on his own with Argyle. It’s not someone he’s forced to be with in a perilous situation, it’s not the girl he has feelings for, it’s just someone with his same love for music and art who is more laid back and someone he can just talk to. And all of season 4, even when they are in peril and he’s not smoking weed at this point, he’s a leader, he cares for his siblings, but he’s not looking down on everyone like he’s better than them. That is, until he’s with Nancy again. His relationship with her, unfortunately brings out that better-than-you mindset from season 1. He takes the first opportunity he can when he’s back with her in the finale to trash Steve. And Nancy shuts it down but he continues to lie to her about Emerson and overall just seems somehow less happy than he was during that wild road trip and running from the law with Argyle, Will, and Mike. I’ve said it before but Jonathan and Nancy isolate themselves together, but when they’re apart they thrive working with other people.

Now people who hate on Jonathan want to keep referring back to ways he was in the earlier seasons like when he took those uncool photos. Which again, not cool, but he apologized for it and made it up to Nancy helping her track down what happened to Barb. But at his core, he’s a good person who just wants to have a relaxed life and a close family. He’s not a bad person for not wanting the same things as Nancy and he’s not a bad person for smoking weed and he’s not a bad person for taking the between the end of s3 and beginning of s4 to be and care about himself for once. He’s had a hard time of life with his piece of shit abusive dad, his brother going missing, his mother and him mourning. But his worst comes out when he’s trying to explain other peoples feelings for them. When he tried several times to tell Nancy who she is or what she thinks, when he tells his mother to get a grip about Will, when he tells Will it’s cool to be a freak when that was definitely not the answer that boy was looking for— he does best when he’s focused on himself and isn’t trying to focus on everyone else. Let my boy live his California Dream lifestyle in peace.

#jonathan byers #stranger things #unfortunately this is somewhat anti j*ncy #but only because he’s better on his own in many ways #anti jancy

[jancys-blue-bayou]

I’m not planning on watching volume 2 because of the sheer mess of volume 1 and the disgusting Stancy shipteasing but could you say what the gross Stancy scenes are and if there’s actual substance behind them? Make it make sense please I just wanted Jancy to reunite and be happy and have them have their own individual storylines without this stupid love triangle :(

Hey anon so after all I'd def recommend watching volume 2 if you watched volume 1 because, well volume 1 is worse. On all accounts, both regarding Jancy and just the show in general. And the season ends with Jancy having a sweet reunion, then there's an ambiguous scene with them where they talk but don't really resolve all the tension between them, but at least say they're okay. And most importantly: Final shot of s4 has Jancy, Jopper, Mike, El and Will all together watching how the Upside Down is now fully leaked into our world. And in the shot they have Jopper stand together holding hands and Jancy stand together holding hands. So the season ends on Jancy holding on and staring danger in the face again together, which is of course good. Plus the fact that they mirror Jopper in the scene, the Jopper ship was super realized in vol 2 with making out scenes and all.

The Stancy shipteasing remained just shipteasing and onesided. It was very gross to watch and completely unnecessary (the love triangle is absolutely not needed, they're doing Nancy a huge disservice and Steve as well). First shiptease moment in vol 2 is when Nancy comes out of Vecna's trance (Nancy has a really good scene with Vecna that opens vol 2 so that was cool), basically Vecna just lets her go after telling her everything (why he did that I don't fucking know maybe it'll come up in s5?) and when she snaps out of it Steve catches her and is like "I've got you". Gross but nothing more than that.

Then there's like a moment when they and Robin go into the UD again later, they like halt and look at each other for a moment but nothing more.

There's a scene where Steve randomly tells Nancy that his future dream is to have 6 kids and drive around the country in a winnebago WEIRD THING TO TELL YOUR EX WHO HAS A BOYFRIEND STEVE. Nancy is surprised and says "That's... nice?" and then is like "except for the 6 kids part". She clearly doesn't want to be a baby making factory in a winnebago. I take Nancy in that scene as not really into Steve's future dream but glad he suddenly has one after being so directionless previously. Then later when they're in the UD Steve tells her he wants Nancy to be the woman in that future dream, aka his baby making factory (my words not his but). Nancy looks at him shocked but Robin interrupts before she can respond.

Then they're p much busy fighting supernatural stuff so not anymore big shipteasing moments between them after that, that I can remember at least but I pulled a 13 hour shift before watching vol 2 so I might forget smth.

So the season ends with the Cali gang finally rolling back into Hawkins two days after the big battle. Jancy have a super sweet reunion, he lifts her up and everything, presses a kiss to her forehead. Apologizes for that she couldn't get a hold of him and she tries to start explaining what happened in Hawkins but he tells her he knows, and she's confused and he says he'll explain everything. During this Steve is in the background looking forlorn and Robin pats his back lol.

Then Jancy and El, Max and Will go to see Lucas and Max at the hospital (Max is in a coma). Jancy don't have any lines in this scene but I like that they took the kids.

Then they're at Hopper's cabin, where they plan to hide El. The cabin is in uh bad shape so Nancy whips everyone into cleaning mode. Jancy then have a scene where they talk while boarding up a hole in the wall. First they have a funny moment watching Argyle being weird. Then Jonathan says he's sorry he wasn't there, but Nancy says she's glad he was with Mike and Will. Then Jonathan says he's glad she was in Hawkins bc "Otherwise, who'd have been in charge? Steve?" WHICH IS TRUE everyone in Hawkins would've died 20 times over by ep 3 if it wasn't for Nancy. But here's what I despise the Duffers for, they then have Nancy say: "He's actually grown up quite a bit, you know?" Which is like, fine whatever, that's not saying she has feelings for Steve but it's just so weird to keep a little shipteasing alive still by having Nancy bring up Steve here. Then Jonathan asks if they're okay and Nancy says yeah, but there's some hesitation from both, then they agree it's hard and Nancy says "life keeps throwing things in the way of our big plans" and Jonathan is like "sure seems like it". Then Nancy jokes about putting "saving the world" on your college resume. Then she asks "not that it matters at all" if he's gotten his acceptance letter and he says no not yet and doesn't mention the community college thing. Then scene ends. Then Jopper show up and the Byers family have a sweet reunion as Nancy looks super happy watching it, then it ends with the final shot I mentioned above.

So this was rambling but yeah to sum up: I still think Jancy is endgame. But I hate how the Duffers have written them lately. I don't get why they try to keep the played out love triangle alive into s5 but I guess they think it's good for buzz around the show or whatever. Like I said I hate they have Nancy mention Steve in that last talk, not bc I think she has feelings for him, but bc it's just unnecessary. I think the other stuff they talk about in that scene, the feeling that life keeps throwing obstacles in their way, and the issue around their college plans, that's enough for tension in the relationship. The Stancy shipteasing is completely unnecessary because it's clear Nancy absolutely doesn't want what Steve wants. Also, given all the "looks" in the Stancy shipteasing moments, take note of this: The way Nancy looks at Jonathan is WAY different, deeper, happier, muuuuch more meaningful than how she looks at Steve.

I think Jancy will work through some issues in s5 and come out the other end together. The obstacle of issues around college plans can be solved a myriad of ways, and like Nancy and everyone else says by the end of s4, stuff like that don't really matter much anymore given everything else that's going on. Jancy will be together for s5, face off against evil together again, when they're at their best. And I do think they'll work through their shit and at the end be together.

#stranger things 4 spoilers #st4 vol2 spoilers #jancy #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #stranger things 4

[beepboop358]

My Byler theories/predictions for S4

Since s4 is already confirmed to not be the last season, I don’t think Byler will officially get together in s4. I do think that we are definitely going to get a large amount of Byler’s development in s4 though, we just aren’t at the finish line yet. Since Byler has been being developed all through each of the seasons, I think the writers are playing the long game with Mike and Will. I really appreciate a queer romance that is so well developped, especially in something so popular! I think the season will end on a note where it’s understood what Mike has been struggling with, It’s made known that Will is gay, and that Mike has feelings for Will, and Will has feelings for Mike.

My predictions/theories for Byler in s4:

Mike might be acting a little off at school and Dustin is going to notice his odd behavior and ask what’s up

I think Mike will be getting in trouble at school and at home (based on whenever he doesn’t have Will/El around he does stupid things - like graffitti the bathroom wall, plagiarize essays, curse at adults, etc.) I don’t know if Mike knows about Eddie dealing drugs, but he might and he might get drugs from Eddie and do them to cope with everything he is struggling with. His parents might ground him for doing drugs, and forbid him from going to visit the Byers, and then we could get our runaway smalltown boy montage! LOL

Lonnie might come to visit the Byers in California for Will’s birthday. He will probably show up because he thinks they have money now, or he wants to sue Starcourt like he wanted to sue the quarry in s1. Mike will also be there visiting for Will’s birthday. Lonnie will mock Will and make fun of him like he always did, but he will also hate Mike. Lonnie will definitely notice Will and Mike’s dynamics and he will definitely comment about it. He might even call them homophobic slurs like we know he used to do with Will when he was younger. Lonnie will probably make Will cry and Mike upset. Lonnie might possibly “out” him and Mike before they are out and confirm it themselves. Some of the movies on the stranger writers twitter for s4 also hint at this, as well as having the baseball references. There are also hints to Will’s birthday throughout the show: The rainbow happy birthday mug seen in the crazy together scene, the “sorry i forgot your birthday card” in Will’s room from Lonnie, and Joyce’s speech in the shed discussing Will’s 8th birthday and his “rainbow ship”. Jonathan also mentions how Lonnie made him kill a rabbit on his 10th birthday and he cried for a week after, just more hints that if Lonnie shows up for Will’s bday, it’s gonna be bad.

Mike might get Will a watch for his birthday. This would reference the clocks being central to the s4 plot, and “not wanting things to change/turning back the clock” in Hopper’s letter

Will is being homophobically bullied at his new school again, possibly references to Will having HIV/AIDS because the height of the epidemic was in the 80’s and it was very stigmatized

Mike will call Will more than he will call El. Will might be slightly surprised by this, El’s frequent calling will annoy Mike and he might turn off his walkie talkie. (basically the reverse of what Mike said would happen in the s3 ending mileven scene)

Mike and Will will be in the same location for most of the season, like s2. They will not leave each other’s sides for the majority of the time they are together.

S4 Group Predictions:

- El, Will, Mike trio together with Jonathan and Argyle. (we will get some obvious tension between El, Will, and Mike, and Mike will hate Argyle at first)

- Robin, Steve, Erica, Max, Dustin, Lucas, Vickie, Eddie, Nancy

- Joyce, Murray, etc?

- Hopper and the other Russians (Dimitri, etc)

The rift between Mike and El will continue to grow.

When Mike comes to visit, she will notice he seems much more interested in Will.

El will ask why the bullies call Will those things (queer/fairy/gay/homo, probably f slurs too), what it means and if he really is “a queer”.

I don’t know if Will is going to come out to El. They have never interacted before, and I doubt Will trusts her or really likes her much mainly, because of Mike. Unless they get super close during the time not portrayed on screen between s3 and s4, or by being all each other has in California, I don’t know if  he will come out to El. I could see this going either way depending on how their friendship develops. I definitely do not think Will is going to tell El he likes Mike, even if he does confide in her he is gay. I think she will find out eventually but in some other way, probably just from Mike’s behavior towards Will.

El will eventually realize she doesn’t actually love Mike and let go of the ‘romance’ aspect of their bond, but still highly value him as a friend.

Mike might be called homophobic slurs at school as well. Mike will definitely be teased (regardless of his sexuality) because he is in the hellfire club and since satanic panic is sweeping the town, people look at D&D as if it is a satanic game, and he will be teased because of that.

Based on the leaked bts pics, I have a theory a cheerleader, or someone else, might show interest in Mike.  Mike will not reciprocate and she will call him out for it asking why he doesn't like her because “any other guy at this school would” or something like that, maybe even ask “what are you gay or something”. It would certainly be good for Mike’s narrative but idk if it will happen.

Will may confide in Jonathan about his feelings for Mike and the things the bullies say to him at school. Jonathan will be supportive of Will, as will Joyce. I think he will also try to protect Will from Lonnie and they will both defend Will to Lonnie.

I think we need a scene of Mike with his Mom telling him to follow his heart, like who you like, etc. because life is too short to waste it being miserable or something like that. This could be inspired by Mike’s parents seperating, but idk. This could also encourage Mike to initiate more romantic things with Will.

I would love to get a scene of Will confronting Mike for “Joining another party”, after Will said he wouldn’t.

Will and Mike need to discuss what was said in their fight.

I think since Mike's been holding in a lot of turmoil and struggling with his sexuality for so long we might get a small breakdown scene from him, of him telling Will he’s really sorry for how he treated him last summer, and for all the things he said to Will. Mike will profusely apologize and also hint at how he’s confused and been dealing with a lot.

I think Mike will be the first one to break down and confess he has feelings for Will and has been struggling with coming to terms with his sexuality.

Once Will has confirmation Mike is also struggling with his sexuality, Will might come out to him. I would love for him to reference the fight being like “You were right. I don’t like girls.” (from @itsonlystrange ‘s 4x07 byler script it’s so good!) I don't know if Will will confess he likes Mike to his face or not. I don't think it's likely given how shy Will is and how afraid he is of Mike not reciprocating, but who knows.

Mike may initiate a kiss between him and Will - towards the end of the season probably (eyewitness parallel - explained in my byler proof google slides)

I think Mike and Will might write letters to each other, with some love-y connotations. There is a lot of evidence for this in the canon comics of them writing notes to each other, and that cryptic tweet from stranger writers twitter with a blocked out message and the date Will went missing saying it wasn’t about a couple or hopper. Maybe byler related? This tweet may not be a letter but it might be. The most popular theories are that the message is to Will, “love mike”, which I love. https://twitter.com/strangerwriters/status/1184945905973153792?lang=en

Will has a new haircut (bts pics) and Mike will gush over it. Maybe some gay-panicking too hopefully

I think El will be either physically or at least emotionally distant the entire season from the other kids (again following the pattern of even and odd seasons) El needs some personal development this season, since she didn’t get any in s3.

El might confront Mike and ask if he is gay and if he likes Will, which could be El’s motivation to go off on a journey of her own to learn more about her own life. I don’t think it will be a huge fight, but El might make some references to him always lying to her. I think Mike might just kind of try to talk his way out of it at first, but he will eventually break. This might be a two part discussion and Mike doesn’t admit she is right until later. I don’t think it makes sense for El to be heartbroken (explained in my byler proof slides), just slightly annoyed. This is based off of the movie Tootsie which they borrowed the “gift” idea from in s3 already. In the movie, the girlfriend then after receiving the gift asks “Michael” if he is gay.

I really think eventually El will realize it’s okay because she doesn’t love him romantically either, and once she realizes that her own personal development can really begin.

I think we will see a noticeable change in Mike’s demeanor. I think Mike will mainly just be trying to hide that he is gay now. He joined the hellfire club so we know he’s playing d&d again meaning he is reverting back to his true self, not the weird act he put on in s3 trying to be straight and change himself. He is still struggling, but he knows he likes Will. Regardless that doesn’t mean he is going to be super clear about how he feels. He is going to be extremely afraid of opening up and then getting hurt by Will. He will probably do some of his usual ‘lead Will on and then shut it down’ thing. And I really want Will to call him out on this. This could also lead to Mike breaking down in front of Will and confessing. I think we are going to get a lot of 'Mike gay panicking' moments, he's going to be extremely afraid of being found out/suspected.

Byler things I really want to happen that we may get because they would have narrative significance:

I really want flashbacks to those 3 months of summer between the starcourt explosion and the Byers moving, of moments between Mike and Will when they hang out alone together, with some obvious romantic tension. Like where they are super playful and almost kiss, or they are kind of touchy, or something in the realm of that. I think we need a flashback of something that explains Will’s flirty nature at the very end of s3 with Mike, because he doesn't normally act like that. I want noticeable “is something going on with them?” vibes. This could also happen during the thanksgiving/christmas flashbacks.

I hope we get flashbacks of Mike going to the Byers for Thanksgiving, and the Byers coming back to Hawkins for Christmas. Preferably of some Mike and Will moments that hint at Mike’s confusion or how he feels “so alone” without Will, maybe with some “crazy together” references too! I’d also love some tension between the 3 of them, maybe this is when El starts to get suspicious of Mike liking Will.

Hopefully we get some shots of Mike biking past the byers old house and going to look at castle byers and reminiscing.

I’d love to get a flashback of Mike the day the Byers moved away, of him crying or being upset, alone in his room/basement while looking at Will’s drawings or pictures of Will and him together. Mainly to confirm for people that Mike was upset about Will moving, not as much El.

This one does not seem super probable, but it is a very popular theory. Idk if it’s possible because of location logistics, but if they spend enough time together, I’d love for Mike to get to know Robin better, and Will too. Maybe once everyone comes together at the end of the season, she will notice their dynamics and could help guide and inspire them to be themselves. Hey maybe thats for s5 :) But I do think it’s a possibility that Mike may work at the video store with Steve and Robin, and she will pick up on Mike’s behavior and understand, whether she communicates that to him or not.

#byler #byler theory #byler is endgame #byler rights #byler is real #byler analysis #byler is canon #byler depression #byler prediction #byler obsessed #will byers #mike wheeler #eleven #joyce byers #stranger things theory #stranger things #stranger things 4 #st4 #st4 theory #st4 speculation #st4 spoilers #byeler #byler st4 #st #byler speculation #mike x will #mike wheeler is gay #will byers is gay

[kaypeace21]

I believe that byler is an endgame

but why would they spend 3 seasons winding up with mileven?

People REALLY need to pay attention to the shows the Duffers cited as huge inspirations to them. Cheers,dawsons creek, freak &geeks did exactly what the Duffers are doing (and the Duffers said these shows inspired them)

. Cheers for over 5 seasons built up the pairing of sam and Dianne- had them break up in the s5 finale and then in the last 2 eps of the 11th season have them get back together and once again break up explaining for the 100th time they were wrong for each other and brought out the worst in eachother . Cheers would build up multiple pairings (Frasier /Lilith (s4-11/broke up in s11) , sam/Dianne (s 1-11, broke up in s11 permanently) , rebecca /sam (s8-10) Rebecca/robin (s8-9) -these pairings lasted for multiple seasons and they all broke up! They built pairings up for multiple seasons but showed throughout the show why those pairing in cheers could never work out in the long term. The same Thing happened with almost every pairing in Dawson’s creek (they’d build up multiple pairings up -sometimes for multiple seasons- sprinkle in good but also dysfunctional aspects of those relationships- and then break them apart for good ).

Also in Dawson’s creek 2 characters (a rich girl and poor guy with daddy issues) date and breakup- but both of their gay brothers get together and are endgame instead of them (cough jancy vs byler). One of the gay guys (the rich one with the book smart sis) even dated the main girl (Joey) for a while before admitting he was gay and that he was in denial (while dating the main girl for more than a season ). In D.C even the main guy(Dawson) / girl (Joey) don’t end up being endgame (despite teasing it for all 5 seasons) . They did this with a lot of couples in the show. Honestly, the Duffers pretty much borrowed this idea of showing pairings with issues and breaking them up -but toned down how long they’d bait them . Like 11seasons of showing dysfunctional couples date -ick. And Dawson’s creek ... my god it had a literal love octogon/ love webs (so many love squares/pentagons/ and on and off relationships). The 1 adult couple broke up and I’m not exaggeration 4 times, and Dawson got back with 2 of his girlfriends like so many times. And ugh I’d say each (of the 4-5) main characters dated at least 4 people -and each of those relationships lasted for like 20+ eps each... and then after all that build up -break up ). That’s not even including the people the main 5 or so characters would date for like 5-6 eps . Thank god it was toned down compared to Dawson’s creek or cheers. i can’t imagine the frustration watching those shows during its airing 😂

Freaks & geeks (set in the 80s)was also inspo.14 y old Sam who is bullied and called “homo” “queer” etc throughout the whole series - he also obsesses over a cheerleader girl for the whole series and in the second to last ep of the series- they finally start dating  and he realizes they have nothing in common and says “it’s boring. all we ever do is makeout.She likes nothing i like. We can’t talk to eachother. We never have fun.” And he admits he only keeps dating her cause everyone would call him “crazy” to not date her. sam and her are also said to be “from different planets” and “different species”  just like mileven in s3 lol.  The gf of  sam also says before they dated she saw him ‘like a sister’ (like El asking mike if he’d be her brother in s1, before they date). And after this sibling comment various characters -encouraged the couple and said they would be good together (before they dated-like what we’ve seen in st with mileven and other ships ).Sam eventually decides to not cave to peer pressure- and breaks up with her. Meanwhile sam’s sis (is a straight A student, who is initially into a popular guy and starts hanging with the cool kids).  After getting over the first (popular) guy, she later dates another guy- a music-obsessed-stoner-guy  with a cruddy dad...and she breaks up with him (like jancy?). That couple was even called ‘romeo & juliet’ before they broke up-similar to mileven being called “romeo & juliet’ before their breakup. plus r&j were never in love... just like mileven.

All 3 shows had the main guy/girl date but not end up with eachother in the end . And both shows -would build up several pairings that looked like endgame but would show faults in those relationships and would have them breakup (because those pairings were never that healthy together). Which I believe is what they’re doing with jancy, jopper, mileven and lumax (explained in my analysis here all the evidence for why I don’t think they don’t end up together). I mean there’s many reasons I listed in the analysis but you think it’s a coincidence - jancy, lumax, mileven , and Steve/rando girl who rejected him in s3-all incorportated spying on their love interest ? you think the duffers think that’s good to have all these romantic pairings spy on eachother? When in the show they canonically have the us gov (villains) spy via phone taps, and hidden recorders, and cameras? Brenner used El as a spy for his own gain ? they even call the mf a ‘spy’ (which the characters perceive as the  main villain)... i don’t think the mf is  actually villainous but that’s off topic).The point is narratively equating spying as something ‘wrong’ by characters our main cast of heroes is against. But having that same cast of heroes partaking in spying themselves … specifically on to their romantic partners- and not also showing it as a negative. But romanticizing it? Would be quite hypocritical. And a HUGE narrative oversight.

Also build up?

S1- mileven kiss right after el asks if he’ll be her “friend” or “brother”. Has others compare el to mike’s sibling /cousin. Hint Will is gay . Have hints mike is queer too/ and cares deeply about Will. Constantly mention how el physically resembles Will/a boy. Parallel mileven to ted/Karen who were “never in love”. Have Nancy and mike verbally compare the jancy/stancy love triangle to mileven/byler . And at the end of the season mike writes a story for Will that likens the 2 to han/leia. Flo says about jancy/Jon “ only love makes you that crazy and that damn stupid”. (Which flo wasn’t entirely right about since jon punched Steve for insulting his family- for Jon it was familial love -not romantic love. But put a pin in that phrase)

S2- was pretty much byler season (and mileven barely interact that season). Byler say they’d go “crazy together”. But el’s new catchphrase is she’s “not stupid.” They Compare mileven to luke/leia (siblings that kissed) . Ref ghostbusters and parallel byler to the romantic pairing of Dana /venkman (but have el just be a ghost and mike a ghost buster which isn’t romantic but the opposite) .parallel mileven to hopper/el. Have el spy on mike, el hurt a stranger cause of unhealthy jealousy, have mileven dance to a song about a possessive spying/Stalking ex gf . Throw in mileven burns like “they’re not in love they’re not even from the same planet.” (El being et ref) . Have mike say annoyed “a bond ?! (Scoff) cause you shared nougat?! “ (egos like s1 ) “. Mike saying after knowing max for a week “hate you? I don’t even know you?” (He knew el for a week too so no way he loves her -cause he doesn’t know el , just like max ) . mike even criticizes his friends’ instant attraction to max saying “you haven’t even spoken a word to her.”Dustin saying “ I don’t have to . I mean -look at her.” Which makes it even more suspicious that mike was into a girl who multiple characters said looked like a boy (specifically Will) in s1. Have El watch a soap opera (all my children) and mimic the scene of  erica kane and her love interest michael. Which in the soap opera-isn’t endgame, and ended with some stalking after their breakup.

S3- mileven is finally dating : multiple characters (lucas, Will, Hopper, dustin,Max, etc) in the show dislike and verbally complain about them together . In cheers all of sam’s friends hated him dating Dianne and would vocally complain about it (similar to joyce they even clapped/cheered after 1 of their many breakups) . Mike is horrified by the spying(that mileven fans romanticized in s2) , el is happier single and neither is heartbroken over the breakup. They date for 2 eps and then breakup . Mileven being together inhibits El’s character arc from s2 (aka she went from wanting to explore the world and leave the cabin in s2 to see her friends, to ignoring her friends and cutting herself off from the world in order to stay in the cabin all day to make out with mike for 6 months - she would literally lie to her friends about curfew to return to the cabin and kiss mike -going against her ‘friends don’t lie’ mantra from the past 2 seasons too ). Mike canonically doesn’t trust her / doesn’t believe in her ability to make decisions and lies to her and never apologizes for lying. And el doesn’t apologize for spying . They throw in more gay hints of mike & Will. Mileven is called “bullshit” like s2 stancy . And Both pairings in the show kissed a bunch and said “I love you” (but they weren’t endgame). They also contrast s3 mileven scenes to s2 byler scenes and have byler win out. And once again parallel mileven to hopper/el and Karen/ted. As well as paralleling and likening Mileven to stancy in numerous other ways (besides the “bullshit “ line) . They also parallel mileven to stobin (both are straight baits) .They parallel the stobin confession to the mileven one -both confessions have them sitting on the floor, both girls have bandages on their legs, and both confessions are interrupted by dustin. Also both Steve/mike use the terms “crazy & stupid ” to confess to robin/el. But unlike Will who agrees to be “crazy “ with mike .El confused , asks “ what makes you crazy?” And robin says she didn’t have a crush on his “stupid hair”. el even says in reference to mike “there’s more to life than stupid boys.” Showing how el/robin don’t have romantic feelings for the boys-like the flo phrase of s1. Unlike Will who after fighting with mike calls himself “stupid” over and over and rips up the photo of him and mike where they promised to go “crazy together.” Even Steve says in s2 stancy should should “pretend to be stupid teenagers” in love. Emphasis on “pretend”. And when el says she loves mike “the first I love you” plays -the only other time that song plays in s3 is when robin rejects Steve (cause she’s gay.) cough cause mike is gay too.

There’s a lot more in each season (that illustrates mileven was built up -but not as a positive couple but a problematic one that was never was in love to begin with ). But I’m trying to keep this short . You can read this post here where I go in more depth about all of this .

S1-2 builds up the problematic ships (but showed good and bad aspects of their dynamic) . like the spying of jancy, lumax, and mileven or the jealousy. of Hopper in s2. In the s2 finalie they have them kiss or hug/exchange romantic glances. And in S3 we see the after math of this with all the couples officially dating - and they show all the couples issues at the forefront . I already talked about mileven. But, Lumax broke up 6 times (they dated for 6 months- and every month they dated max dumped him ). Jancy fight in the opening of ep 1 and don’t understand each others issues (sexism/poverty-and Jon’s issues with his dad) . And neither supports the other in their passions of journalism & photography.Nancy is also called “nancy drew” who in 1986 (year of s4) before going to college dumps her long term highschool bf (who helped her in many of her past mysteries/novels ). Their relationship was also shown as complex and somewhat dysfunctional because of both parties -before nancy drew dumps him. And (even if not dating like the other pairings) jopper almost go on a date in s3. Joyce was trying to hide the fact she was moving, Hopper was horribly jealous, and all they did was yell and argue.Murray says to joyce regarding hopper “he’s a brute... probably reminds you of a bad relationship” (aka lonnie/Joyce) . They even have Joyce watch a cheers ep- which directly compares jopper to (dianne/Frasier) who weren’t endgame in cheers but a rebound .  Hopper /fraiser both drink chianti . Fraiser asks dianne to marry him/Hopper asks Joyce on a date-both women stand them up. Or when Joyce asks Hopper out she calls her self ‘detective byers ‘and Hopper name drops miami vice. Which had an on and off again relationship for several seasons- of the male /female detectives.The relationship faded out as Gina realized they mainly got together when one or both needed someone. Crockett was very protective of Gina, and had some jealousy when Gina was involved in relationships , but was the first one to be there for her when things went wrong. And they realized it was better to not be together romantically. Heck seems like all these couples have negative film/tv parallels... lucas in s2 mentions not liking winston in ghost busters cause he came ‘super late’ (like Max). in s1 disses michael myers (which Max dressed as). And at the end of s3- lumax dress identically to eric/donna from a ep of that 70s shows (in the ep  eric/donna were broken up).

 (s3 was marketed as the “summer of love” and “summer love” is a euphemism for flings that don’t last.) s4-5 Will probably show good healthy ships/break up the problematic ones from past seasons .

So first 2 seasons focus on the unhealthy ships / and the last 2 seasons focus on healthy ships. S3 the middle season would be considered the turning point -and why none of the popular ships (assumed to be endgame) came off looking that great (compared to how they were presented in s1-2) .

#byler #anti mileven #byeler #stranger things

[post-modern-prometheus]

hello! can you talk about mike and max friendship or mike and robin friendship headcanons?

>:) oh yes. yes i can. 

i’ll start with max and mike

two things for them

first, they “hate” each other. they’re literally the same person, so it really just baffles the party how they can’t get along. but they don’t realize that itself is the problem. they’re both opinionated and painfully stubborn. the party always has constant chatter surrounding it. half of that is max and mike bickering. always over stupid stuff. and sometimes they do get mad at each other for real. and for literally No reason. but would literally die for each other, even though they like to pretend they wouldn’t.

second is actually less of a headcanon, more something that won’t happen but i would like to see. 

this part is actually canon but a) no one ever talks about it and it’s so funny and b) it leads me to an actual headcanon: when they’re arguing in the gym and max is on her board in season 2, you can faintly hear them while el’s walking in the hallway. mike says something like “i don’t see any tricks, you’re just going around in a circle” and then max replies “if it’s so easy, you try it” and he’s all like “no i don’t know how, but i bet if i spent all day practicing i could do them”. which let’s just take a moment. iconic mr. wheeler. so incredibly wrong but iconic nonetheless.

which leads me to the headcanon part- but you already know where i’m going with this. max shows up one day, a week or two after el and the byers moved away. she has two board and a helmet. before she even says anything, mike’s like No. she tells him that it wasn’t her idea. el asked her to make sure he didn’t get all emo again. that still doesn’t convince him. she reminds him of his aforementioned claims. he’s a stubborn little shit- they both know it. so he begrudgingly takes the board and helmet and they spend all day practicing.

he’s not good. (it’s mike guys, what did you expect.) it takes him the entire day to be able to push without falling over. he falls so many times. max constantly cites it as the best day of her life. but they practice all fall and winter. finally spring comes, and he can ride without falling over. they decide to skate in town. max is absolutely aware of the fact that you’re not supposed to or the shop-owners will chase you away or call the cops. so many birds were flipped that day. in a chase to rival back to the future, they escape any retribution.

once they’re in the clear, laying sweaty and out of breath in the grass by the park, mike apologizes to max for being such an asshole when they first met (and for awhile after that). she tries to stop him because max mayfield doesn’t like mushy emotions, but he continues on. they even civilly revamp their argument from over the summer and really take the time to listen understand each other. afterwards, they agree to never speak of the moment again.

besides that one time, they don’t really like to talk all that much. they have the other members of the party for that. when they hang out, they skate, listen to music (there’s a mutual love for joan jett and the runaways because i said so), and actively participate in teenage rebellion. which is exactly what they need from each other.

they still bicker all the time.

now onto our favorite case of wlw/mlm solidarity, robin and mike. again, thsi is more of a lil story than a headcanon but...

i’m definitely stealing this from someone but i can’t remember who: mike gets a job at the home video store. i just adore it sm. and that’s when robin and mike actually start to interact. before that they were always “random kid who always bothers my coworker and apparently is a part of some supernatural conspiracy” and “my sister’s ex’s coworker who stumbled into our supernatural conspiracy predicament”.

the funny part is that the party thinks steve and robin are dating. but steve keeps denying it, so dustin demands mike do recon at work. to get him off his back, mike relents, amused. after a week, sick of his obvious attempts at prying into her personal life, robin is so annoyed that she kinda just… blurts it out. that she doesn’t “even like guys!”

at first, she’s scared that he’s gonna be all homophobic, from the unreadable look on his face. but then he shrugs and just nods and says. “oh cool. my bad.”

the next day, the two of them have the early shift by themselves. as robin bitches about people not rewinding their tapes, mike asks her how she knew she was gay. she tells him that she realized she liked girls a lot more than her friends did. in a very different way. even though he’s not looking at her, she can sense that something is bothering him, and she’s beginning to guess what it is. from one gay to another. her sixth sense. “but what about guys?” he continues. “how did you know the difference, that you didn’t like-“

“both?” she finishes for him. he finally looks at her and she tells him that sometimes people do like both. she just wasn’t one of them. he tells her that he is.

robin pronounces herself his “gay fairy-godmother”.

oh, also, here’s a headcanon if the show were set in the modern day: she would be the one to introduce him to my chemical romance.

this one took me little bit to respond to because i have so many ideas for these relationships and i wanted to make sure i communicated them the best way i could! i would die to see either of these friendships actually happen in the show, so here’s to hoping!

#stranger things #mike wheeler #max mayfield #robin buckley

[biillyhargroves]

please tell us everything about future billy since hes alive and well and not dead and getting to know happiness 💗

Okay, listen. LISTEN!!!! Billy was a child and he had so much potential to grow and to learn and in a perfect world where the stupid redemption by death trope is in hell where it belongs he would have had to opportunity to apologize for his behavior, fix his relationships and form new ones, find a support system in those new relationships, get away from his abuse father and out of his toxic house, and heal from his trauma as he moves into a healthier adulthood.

Here are some things that will happen in the future because Billy is very much not dead and is therefore very much alive to enjoy the full and bright future he deserves:

A) He repairs his relationship with Max. They become super close and protective of one another. He teaches her how to drive and takes her out for ice cream whenever she and Lucas break up (and rolls his eyes when they get back together because oh my god Maxine this is exhausting). She vouches for him when he starts to apologize and make amends with the rest of the group, she threatens any girls (or guys) he brings home because she knows a lot of people are into him because he’s attractive and she won’t have any of them breaking his heart on her watch, she plays matchmaker when she sees him get flustered around people because that’s when she knows he really, really likes them. 

B) He apologizes, in his own way, to Steve and to Lucas and to the entire group- for the Mind Flayer shit, which they all know wasn’t his fault, but for everything else, too. Because he knows he was an ass and Max has told him over and over again that he was an ass and he’s trying to be better. He’s not great at it. Old habits die hard, and he’ll always be a little rough around the edges, but he has a good heart and he starts to let that show.

C) Will befriends him. Jonathan doesn’t love this at first, because he knows Billy’s reputation, but Will is the only other person who knows what it feels like to have your whole mind and body taken over, and he wants that connection as much he thinks Billy needs it. They don’t talk about the Mind Flayer much, but just knowing that they’re not alone makes them both feel better. Jonathan and Billy form a friendship because of it. They swap their favorite tapes, browse the record store together. A few times, some of Billy’s old school “friends” give him shit about it, because the Byers are still targets for bullies, but a few fights shut them up.

D) El befriends him, too. He drives her and Will and Max around- to the arcade, to the Wheelers house for D&D nights, he takes them out to movies. He acts like they’re annoying, like he doesn’t want to be their babysitter, but he loves them and calls them his “kids”. And they love him. Because they get to see him be goofy, be honest, be weird; he has threatened bullies for Will and glowered at Mike for upsetting El and, of course, Lucas already knows that hurting Max is b a d n e w s. And they would all kill for him. They know he doesn’t need them to, but they would. 

E) Steve helps him fix the Camaro, because he feels shitty about totaling it and he knows how much it means to Billy. Billy feels weird about accepting the help, but the two get comfortable with each other soon enough. They make fun of each others’ taste in music and share Hawkins High gossip and they talk about their futures. Once the car’s fixed, they’re the best of friends. Robin hangs with them, too. She and Billy like all the same movies, really complex storylines that Steve doesn’t completely get, but he likes listening to them debate the endings. Dustin hates it. He’s the last one to come around to Billy, mostly because he wants to protect Steve. It takes a lot of convincing for him to accept Billy, but eventually he comes around. 

F) With so many people around him, so many people having his back, more of them take notice when Billy’s moods go dark or when he has fresh bruises he can’t easily explain. On a really bad night, when Neil really laid into Billy, Max convinces him to go to Hopper (who is also alive and not in Russia because this is my story now). She and El and Will have his back when he talks to Hopper, and you bet your ass Hopper makes sure Neil can’t hurt Billy anymore. Susan divorces him, and Billy lives with her and Max until he goes to college (he starts at the community college; he convinces Steve to apply with him, and they take all their gen eds together - when they’re ready, Nancy helps them both apply to four-year schools). 

I could truly go on for hours so I will stop here but just know that in a perfect world this boy who never had anyone in his corner would have the chance to right his wrongs, escape his abuser, heal from his trauma, form lasting friendships. He would move out of Hawkins- maybe out to Chicago, maybe back to California, he doesn’t care, he just wants to go. He would know what it feels like to be loved and appreciated and supported. 

#anon #answered #stranger things meta #billy hargrove #I SCREAM

[fallen-imagine-angel]

Noticed - Steve Harrington x Reader

Notes: Hey guys! This is the first Steve fic that was requested. The others are in the works right now! I hope you enjoy and keep sending in Steve requests because I love him so much. Thanks!

Summary: Since Nancy just broke up with Steve, he doesn’t notice you that much. But what happens when you’re stuck fighting monsters together and he’s forced to notice you? 

Noticed

Steve Harrington x Reader

Requested?: Yes, by @wishing-wanting - “Omg a steve x reader where they got grouped together and fought together in S2 but he was too stuck on Nancy to notice her even though since he saved her she’s had a crush on him and he just doesn’t want to admit his feelings because he doesn’t want to get hurt again and it takes the reader getting hurt or almost really hurt by the Russians or Mind Flayer for him to realize how much he loves/ likes her and yea lmao idk I finished S3 and I forgot how much I love Steve”

Word Count: 3,340

Warnings: ST3 SPOILERS!, descriptions of fighting, some sexual harassment comments from Billy (sorry), descriptions of syringe & getting a shot.

You don’t know how you got roped into this. You’re Nancy’s best friend and that’s how it all started.

You were with her while she dated Steve, you were with her when she broke up with Steve, you were with her when she got with Jonathan. Even though you didn’t agree that she should have broken up with Steve because he was nothing but caring for her, you said nothing.

And even though they broke up, he still only cares about Nancy.

Above all, though, you’ve been there through the Demogorgon and beyond.

“You should go with him,” Steve tells Nancy as you all pick up heaters to burn a monster out of Will’s body. Crazily enough, it’s not the weirdest thing that has happened to you recently.

“What?” She asks, looking to you for answers. You shrug, knowing that this conversation is no business of yours, yet Steve chooses to speak about it in front of you. Probably because he barely notices you’re here.

“With Jonathan.” He elaborates.

“No, I’m- I’m not just going to leave Mike. And (Y/n).” Nancy shakes her head, grabbing a heater. You go to interject that you’ll be fine, but Steve beats you to the punch.

“No one’s leaving anyone. I may be a terrible boyfriend but it turns out I’m a dang good babysitter.” Steve helps her with a large heater, giving her a small smile. She takes the heater he hands to her.

“Yeah, and I’m no one.” You mumble, rolling your eyes as you grab another heater for yourself. They either don’t hear you or ignore you.

“Steve…” Nancy trails off. You don’t even have to look at her to know she’s giving him those puppy dog eyes that always work too well on him.

“It’s okay, Nance. It’s okay.” He assures her, giving her one last meaningful look before turning around and walking inside.

“I’m sorry you had to be here for that.” Nancy apologizes, frowning at you.

“I’m not sure he even knew I was here.” You grumble, realizing that there are no more heaters.

“He’ll notice you, (Y/n), I’m sure of it. There’s no way he won’t be able to notice you after this. I’m going with Jonathan like he said, so...you’ll be here alone with him. And the kids, of course.” She gives you a small smile.

“What? Nancy, you say that like I have a crush on him. I don’t have a crush on him.” You give her a hard glare. 

“Whatever you say, (Y/n).” She laughs despite the situation and goes inside with her heaters. You follow suit. Nancy drives off with Jonathan.

“Is this really necessary?” 

“Yes, it is!”

You hear Steve and Dustin bickering in the house so you decide to go in and keep the peace.

By the time you get to the kitchen, all you see is them slamming the fridge door shut.

“What did you just do?” You ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Shoved a Demodog in the freezer.” Steve points at Dustin.

“What? It’s a scientific discovery!” He defends himself. You shrug. An argument breaks out in the next room over. What is it with these kids and arguing all the time?

“That place is swarming with dogs!” Mike argues, his face pinched in anger.

“Demodogs.” Dustin reminds them of his nickname for the beasts. Mike looks over with a ‘seriously?’ look. You don’t blame him, now is not really the time for nicknames to be catching on.

“Listen, dude, if a coach calls a play in a game, the bottom line is that you execute it. Alright?” Steve interrupts, trying to be the bigger person.

“Okay, but first of all, this isn’t some stupid sports game. And second, we’re not even in the game, we’re on the bench.” Mike points out. You hum in agreement.

“He has a fair point.” You nod, siding with Mike. 

“Right- so- my point is,” Steve gives you an incredulous look for siding with a child over him, “Right, yeah, we’re on the bench so, uh….there’s nothing we can do.”

You get an idea.

“Wait, that’s not necessarily true. We figured out that the Demodogs have a hive mind, right?” You ask, furrowing your brows. Steve looks over at you, a puzzled look on his face. He doesn’t like where this is going.

“Yeah, we did.” The kids all nod.

“Well, when we were on that bus, they all ran away. They didn’t just run away, though, they got called away.” You remind them, your gears turning for a plan.

“So if we get their attention--” Lucas starts.

“Maybe we can draw them away from the lab.” Max finishes his thought for him. They smile at each other.

Ah, young love.

“Exactly.” You nod.

“Yeah, and then we all die!” Steve yells, looking to you for reassurance. You give him none.

“That’s one point of view.” Dustin shrugs.

“It’s not a point of view it’s a fact.” Steve looks at the boy with a ‘you’re an idiot’ face. You giggle.

“I got it!” Mike runs away. He comes back a moment later.

“What’s up?” You ask.

“All of the tunnels feed into here. Hopper dug a hole into the tunnels so if we go to the hub and set it on fire--”

“No- Yeah, that’s a no.” Steve shakes his head. This time, you agree.

“Oh, heck no. We’re not going to risk our lives by starting an uncontrolled fire to call a bunch of demon dogs--”

“Demodogs.” Dustin reminds you.

“Demodogs to the exact spot that we’re at.” You finish. Steve nods in agreement and fist bumps you. Look at that, Nancy was right. He is noticing you now that she’s gone.

But you don’t have a crush on him. She was wrong about that part.

The kids continue making a plan completely against you and Steve’s wishes.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Steve claps to get their attention.

“This is not happening.” You tell them.

“But-”

“No! No buts! We promised to keep you safe and that is exactly what we are doing.” Steve looks over at you. You nod. 

“We’re staying here on the bench and we’re waiting for the, uh, starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?” You recall Steve’s earlier basketball reference. He raises his eyebrows and smiles, surprised that you paid attention to him saying that.

“This isn’t some stupid sports game!” Mike groans. You glare at him.

“Does it look like I care, Wheeler? Your sister entrusted me with your specific care. I am her best friend. She will murder me if I let anything happen to you, got it? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let you get hurt. We are not going anywhere.” Your voice is laced with venom.

A car revs its engine outside. Everyone runs to the window.

“It’s my brother. He-- he can’t know I’m here, he’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.” Max gasps.

You and Steve share a knowing look. Before you know it, you’re stepping outside and telling the kids to hide.

Billy pulls up and steps out of his car, an unpleasant look on his face.

“Am I dreaming, or is that Harrington and (Y/l/n)?” Billy smirks, winking at you. You roll your eyes.

“Yeah, it’s us, Billy. What do you want?” You growl.

“I’m looking for my step-sister. A little birdie told me she was here.” He puts a cigarette to his lips.

“Huh, that’s weird. I don’t know her.” Steve crosses his arms. You put a hand on your hip.

“Small, redhead...nothing?” Billy looks over at you.

“Doesn’t ring a bell. Why don’t you leave?” You give him a tight-lipped smile.

“This whole situation is weird. Why are you two lying to me?” He takes out the cigarette and blows a face full of smoke at you. You suffer through the smoke and after it’s gone, let out a cough right back in his face. He smirks.

“She’s not here.” Steve narrows his eyes at Billy.

“Then who is that?” Billy whispers, pointing his cigarette at the window. You and Steve turn to see the kids looking out the window, ducking when they see you turn around.

“Crap.” You whisper. Billy shoves Steve to the ground and walks to the house, slamming open the door. You hurriedly help Steve up and the two of you run in behind him.

“You’re so dead, Sinclair!” You hear Billy yell from the kitchen. Steve runs over and pulls Billy off of Lucas, turning him around.

“No, you are.” Steve punches Billy in the jaw. You gasp, seeing him rub his knuckles after the impact.

Billy laughs and says something about King Steve, but you’re too worried to care.

“Steve, just get him out of here!” You yell, going to back him up. He stops you.

“No, stop, don’t get involved in this.” He pleads, giving you his puppy dog eyes. You guess Steve’s not the only one who’s a sucker for the puppy eyes.

“Okay.” You whisper, staying back in front of the kids to protect them. Billy swings at Steve but Steve ducks, hitting him again.

“Yes!” Dustin calls from behind you. The kids start to cheer Steve on but you’re left petrified as Billy smashes a plate over Steve’s head.

“Steve!” You yell, stepping forward to help. He shakes his head. You watch as the fight ensues with Billy beating Steve to a pulp. After a moment, you know Steve isn’t going to get back up, so you decide to intervene. You grab Billy by the shirt and rip him off of Steve, shoving him to the ground. The lower half of his shirt comes unbuttoned during this.

“You just really wanted me to get my shirt off, huh?” Billy smirks, looking up at you.

“In your dreams.” You kick him in the ribs over and over again with all of your might. It seems to be hurting him because he doesn’t get back up. Eventually, he rolls over.

“Who knew (Y/n) had such a fight in her. I wonder what you’d be like in be--”

Before Billy can finish his sentence, you grab a fistful of his hair and start slamming his face onto the floorboards. After a moment, he grabs your ankle and pulls it out from under you, making you fall to the floor. He climbs on top of you and pins your wrists down above you, knees on either side of your torso.

“Get off of me!” You spit in his face. He chuckles darkly.

“Make me.” He whispers, leaning into your face. You writhe underneath him, struggling to break free.

“Leave (Y/n) alone!” You hear Steve yell before Billy is tackled off of you and on the ground again. You bolt upright and scramble away from them, watching them fight for dominance again. 

You won’t lie to yourself, it was kind of hot seeing Steve stand up for you like that.

You run to the kitchen and grab a pan, running back to the room where Billy is beating Steve again. You wind back your arm and swing the pan at the back of Billy’s head. He falls off of Steve, out cold. You see an unconscious Steve below him.

Max grabs the keys from Billy’s pocket.

“Let’s get out of here.” She gives them to you.

You start to drive, completely abandoning your hope of rationalizing and getting the kids to stay home.

You get to the tunnels and park the car, getting out as Steve starts to wake up. He stumbles out.

“This isn’t okay. I thought we agreed not to do this?” Steve asks you. You sigh.

“I gave up. The kids are persuasive.” You shrug, putting on your goggles and neck bandana.

“It’s our duty to provide assistance. I know you promised Nancy that you would keep us safe, Steve, so keep us safe.” Dustin shoves the bat at Steve. He rolls his eyes and takes it.

“I told you they’re persuasive.” You smile, walking to the hole and jumping down first.

Everyone else jumps down once you’ve given them the all-clear.

“From here on out, I’m leading the way,” Steve calls to the group.

“We’re leading the way.” You correct him.

“We’re leading the way,” Steve repeats, including you this time. You smile to yourself. Luckily, he can’t see it behind your mask.

You all go through the tunnels and find the main hub. You start putting down gasoline all over the walls and floors.

Steve drops the lighter and the place goes up in flames. You immediately pull Steve back to his feet and start running.

You all make it to the opening again. You and Steve start boosting the kids up to the hole one by one until it’s only you two and Dustin left.

“Dustin.” You and Steve get down to give Dustin a boost. Then you hear the Demodogs 

“Crap! Go, go, go!” You boost Dustin up then grab your gasoline and lighter to fight. Steve readies his bat.

“Get behind me.” Steve moves slightly in front of you. You would blush but now is not the time.

The dogs race down the tunnel, coming at you with full speed. You’re about to light them up when they all start running past you.

“Wha--” Before you can say anything, Steve pulls you to his chest to keep from getting separated by the Demodogs. You hold him close until the Demodogs are all gone.

Okay, maybe you do have a small crush on Steve Harrington.

Steve helps you up first then you help him out. You breathe a sigh of relief. Things are working out.

And work out, they did indeed. Eleven closed the gate and that was the end of it.

Or so you thought.

Here you are, a year later, working at Scoops Ahoy with Steve when the third round of things start happening. First, you team up with Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Erica. Next, you find an elevator that leads to a secret Russian base that is trying to open the gate to the upside down again. Third, you get caught in that secret Russian base. Well, you and Steve did. The rest went to go find help.

“Who do you work for?” The Russian leader asks you, his eyes dark with anger.

“I work at Scoops Ahoy in the mall, dude. I’ve told you this already!” You whine, licking your swollen lip. There is a sharp pain in your jaw and realize that the man has punched you in the face. Again.

“How did you get in?” He asks.

“It was an accident! Your security kinda sucks, not gonna lie.” You groan, getting punched in the face again. That one is gonna leave a black eye.

“Take her to the other room.” The man growls. You get picked up and dragged against your will to a room where Steve is already sitting in the center strapped to a chair.

“Steve!” You gasp. His head shoots up at your voice, relief clear on his face. Although you can’t see much of his face with how bruised and bloody it is.

“(Y/n).” He breathes out as you’re strapped to the chair behind him. He grabs your hands through the restraints and you squeeze it to let him know you’re okay.

“Let’s see if these get you talking.” The Russian man comes toward you with a large syringe. 

“Don’t you dare hurt her!” Steve yells, struggling against his bonds. You squeeze his hand tighter as you’re both injected with whatever is in the syringes.

You feel no different as the Russian pulls the needle out and steps out of the room. 

“Hey, (Y/n)?” Steve asks after a moment.

“Hm?” You hum, the room starting to spin. 

“Do you feel any different?” He asks. You can hear the smile on his face.

“No.” You giggle, squeezing his hand.

“Your hand is soft.” He thinks out loud, rubbing his thumb over your palm. You blush at his words.

“So are yours.” You compliment him back, a goofy smile growing on your face. 

“I can imagine the smile on your face right now,” He tries to look back at you but is unsuccessful.

“Oh yeah? What does it look like?” You muse.

“I dunno, it’s like a lopsided grin that’s too genuine to stop from happening. It’s adorable, much like the rest of you. I love your smile.” He admits, resting the back of his head on your shoulder. You giggle and blush again. He called you adorable.

“Stevie, you’re going soft.” You rest your head on top of his. He nudges you.

“Am not. Don’t laugh at me.” He chuckles.

“You totally are--” Before you can finish, the Russian men barge back into the room.

“Time’s up.” They grunt and your head snaps away from Steve’s.

“Who do you work for?” He asks you.

“...Scoops Ahoy.” You giggle. The man sighs.

“Still lying. Ask the boy?” Your Russian guy tells the other Russian guy. You try your best to look at Steve as he stutters.

“I’m telling you, man, we got here on accident.” He laughs, doubling over at the hilarity of the situation.

“Fine. If you won’t confess, then we have no other choice. Kill the girl.” The man in charge commands. The guy questioning Steve grabs a gun.

“They’re gonna kill me.” You giggle.

“I know! It’s-- wait, what?” This seems to sober up Steve for now.

The Russian cocks the gun and aims it at your head. You laugh.

“Bye-bye!” You shut your eyes and wait.

“Wait, no! Stop! I’ll-- I came here with a buddy,” Steve hiccups, still a bit delirious. You crack open your eyes.

“Name?” The man lowers the gun.

“Umm- uh, Dustin. Henderson.” Steve tells the man. Just then, the alarm goes off. The Russian men look at each other before running out to check on the situation. A moment later, Dustin, Erica, and Robin walk in.

“There you guys are!” Robin gasps and the three start to untie you and Steve.

“Oh, hey buddy! I was just talking about you!” Steve grins at Dustin. Dustin gives him a weird look.

“Time to go, nerds.” Erica snaps once the restraints are loose. You get up and turn to Steve, hugging him tightly. He wraps his arms around you and pulls you close to him.

“I thought I was going to lose you.” He seems to be sober for a second.

“You can’t lose me, silly.” You grin and peck his cheek. He blushes.

“Hey, can I tell you something?” He smiles goofily.

“Hm?” You ask, arms still looped around his neck.

“I’ve been in love with you for a while now.” He confesses, resting his forehead against yours. Your noses brush.

“Wait, seriously?” The shock rushes any clouded judgment from your mind.

“Yeah, seriously.” Steve seems to render what he said, sobriety pulling him to reality.

“I-I...I thought you liked Robin.” You gasp, staring deep into his eyes.

“I’m a lesbian.” Robin clears her throat, keeping her eyes trained on the door in case people figure out what’s happening.

“We should go. I’m sorry for--” Before Steve can finish, you’re pressing your lips against his. He kisses back after a moment, pulling you back to his chest.

“I’ve loved you ever since we almost died in that tunnel together. Maybe a bit before, when I saved you from Billy.” He admits, pressing another soft kiss to your lips.

“Funny, I was about to say the same thing.” You grin at him, pecking his lips one last time.

“Can you two please get on with it? I don’t want to die in here!” Erica complains. You and Steve break apart, holding hands still.

“Let’s get out of here. We have a lot of lost time to make up for.” Steve grins at you.

“I’ll say.” You giggle.

“Come on!” Erica tugs you guys out of the room.

Maybe, if you live through this, you’ll have a normal college career with the love of your life.

#st3 #stranger things season 3 #stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fanfic #steve x reader #x reader #reader insert #x y/n #x (y/n) #x you #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x (y/n) #stranger things season three #stranger things x reader #robin #dustin henderson #erica sinclair #mike wheeler #eleven #jane hopper #lucas sinclair #will byers #max hargrove #stranger things 3 #stranger things three

[reddie-fangirl24]

Eddie, The Patient Chapter 3     (A Reddie Fanfiction)

Link to Chapter 1

Link to Chapter 2

“It’s an improv line ‘cause the first time I ever used ‘I forgot the joke’ well, you see, I actually forgot the joke and to save myself I said that I was kidding and kept going with my routine! Some audience members gave me a hard time, but it turns out that I fooled them and then they actually wrote to me apologizing!”

“That’s a funny story, Mr. Tozier,” the host laughed with him. Then she turned and looked into the camera. “We’re going to take a break now, ladies and gentlemen. We’ll be back with a Day in the Life of Comedians.”

Standing up, and taking a breath, Richie stepped away from the set. No matter what, all those studio lights felt like a thousand degrees! Richie shook hands with his contender, Jack. Tonight they’d be battling off left and right with jokes. And this show interview they were filming would air in a week or so.

“Great job, Rich!” His manager, Steve gave him a pat on the back. “Except, I thought we were talking about not bringing that story up.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “So, what’s it gonna do? I’m just trying to show the real me!”

“Yes, and I agree, but I’m afraid that sharing the ‘I forgot the joke’ story could mean that you stumble your routines. You want big audiences out there don’t you, Rich?”

“Steve, just let me handle things, please? Remember what I said? And writing some of my own material has been working!” Richie walked off in a huff. Grabbing a glass of water that a stagehand offered to him, Richie walked outside for some needed air, and to wipe to the sweat off.

Ever since he told his boss that he was going to start writing his own material for shows, he felt as if his career was going in a better direction than it ever was. Eddie was right. He just needed that extra ounce of confidence that he lost. 

Thinking ahead to tonight, the crowd was still building up. Not only was he doing the comedy show with Jack, but another comedian who has been all around the world with her act. And she even called out Richie once! Oh, time for some good old revenge burn.

Feeling his phone buzzing in his pocket, Richie could only guess that it was Steve calling him back to rehearsal. Couldn’t he get a moment’s peace?

But it wasn’t Steve.

No name. Just numbers. But it was coming from right here in L.A.

Gulping, Richie flashed back to the moment where he got the call from Mike Hanlon. The call that changed his life making him step back into the nightmare from his childhood. Then again, he had to admit, that the battle changed everything for the better. 

Feeling his heart pounding, and his stomach nervously grumbled from his nerves, Richie took a deep breath. This always happened to him when a wrong number called. If it was a wrong number. 

Taking a deep breath, Richie answered the call. “H-Hello?”

“Hello, is this Mr. Richard Tozier?” A woman asked him. 

What was this, a prank call? Nobody ever called him by his full name. “Uh, yeah, Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier at your service!” Richie went with his usual intro to break some of his lingering nerves.

“Yes, hello, this is Ruth Alliston, the principal of Hathaway Middle School,” the woman’s voice said. “I’m calling to inform you that your husband is sick and I was wondering if you could come and take him home. I tried calling a couple of your mutual friends, but I couldn’t get a hold of them.”

His heart throbbing, Richie grasped the railing holding himself up. He accidentally knocked the glass of water off the railing, sending it smashing to the ground. Not once since Eddie started his teaching job did they ever call him for something like this. Did he just hear her right? Eddie. His Eddie? Sick? 

“Wait, wait, hold on! What do you mean you called other mutuals? You’re supposed to call me first, damn it!” Richie snapped at her, clutching at his phone.

The woman sighed, obviously sounding frazzled. “I’m sorry, Mr. Tozier, but Eddie gave my specific instruction not to call you. Once I couldn’t get a hold of um,” she paused, turning pages. “Mr. and Mrs. Denbrough I knew that I had no choice but to call you. Oh, he’s very sick with a fever of over one hundred and needs to be taken home.”

Clawing at his hair, Richie mumbled to himself pacing the fire escape. Why was he always out here when got news like this? Of course. Of course, Eddie had to act like he was fine. You should have said something, man! “Um, yeah, you got it. I’ll be there.”

“Oh, wonderful, thank you, sir.” Mrs. Alliston sounded relieved. “Not to worry, he’s asleep right now. The worst seems to have passed.”

The worst? “Thanks, see you later,” Richie said as smoothly as he could. Hanging up the phone, Richie hurried back inside. Goddamn it, Eddie! Of course, you had to act like you were fine! You should have said something, man!

“Rich, where have you been? We’re going to start up again in five minutes!” Steve chewed him out, placing a hand on his shoulder, as he tried to keep up with Richie’s fast pace.

“Steve, I have to go!” Richie protested, hurriedly walking to the elevator.

“Go? Go where? We’re in the middle of taping an interview!” Steve argued with him, gesturing to the set. Jack overheard the situation and turned and looked at them in worry.

“It’s an emergency!” Richie said, pressing the elevator button furiously. 

“Can you tell me? Are we going to have to reschedule everything?” Steve prodded him.

Richie nodded feverishly, watching the floor numbers change. Why were elevators so slow when you needed them? “Yeah, let’s do that. I need to get over to Hathaway Middle School now! Eddie is sick!”

For a moment, Steve didn’t say anything. He noticed that Steve wasn’t that fond of Eddie whenever he was around. Still, he did his best to make polite conversation. “Right. How are you going to get over there? Barry is not available for the rest of the morning.”

Shit! How else was he supposed to get over to the school? It would take at least an hour on foot. And he had to figure out a way to get Eddie home without making him sicker. 

“Can I call you a taxi?” Steve suggested.

Of course! He felt so out of it that he couldn’t think straight. That was when the elevator door opened. “Yeah, thanks!” Richie smiled, despite himself, as he entered the crowded elevator. Ugh, somebody had stinky pits today.

“Rich, call me with an update! You should be back here by 5:00 tonight!” Steve called out to him just as the elevator doors closed. 

Waiting out by the curb and listening to the busy traffic, Richie took a moment to breathe and get his thoughts together. How could he let something like this happen? Besides the distraction with the car, did he really let the excitement of work get in the way? That was so stupid of him! Eddie was way more important! 

He knew something wasn’t right about Eddie’s behavior, but what did he do? Drive off. How could he ever ignore him like that? How could he... forget to think about Eddie? No wonder Eddie was acting so strangely. The uneaten bowl of cereal, barely saying a word and struggling to do a simple task like walking.

Smiling, Richie couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. Eddie had always been an extreme germaphobe. Back when they were students, Eddie washed down every desk before sitting in them during the flu season.

Richie even reminded him about kids getting sick easily when he was studying to become a teacher. Eddie rubbed it off like it was nothing, saying that he was full of bologna. After the first three weeks of teaching, Eddie was complaining about the number of students who were sick with colds. It was funny. But, not now.

He was just hoping that this wasn’t too serious. Whenever Eddie was sick, or he himself, they’d snuggle together. Eddie was always so doting, dropping everything to take care of him. That was the best. He could only guess how much of a helicopter husband he must have been when Eddie had the slightest cold. It was out of love anyway.

In that instant, Richie felt a sting in his gut, realizing how little time they’d spent together as of recently. When was the last time they took a walk around the neighborhood? Or went out for a drink? Or even just stayed inside watching TV? It felt like the only time they ever spent together was cuddling up when they went to bed at night. Only they were asleep. 

Whenever he had nights off, they went to the movies. Sometimes they were the loudest in the theater because they loved to laugh and argue over their own commentary of the film.

And to think we used to spend a few times a week making love... when was the last time we did that?!

It was tough working around his schedule. He worked at night while Eddie worked during the day. Even weekends didn’t supply them with enough time together. Now, he felt lucky that he wasn’t away on a trip. Then what would have happened? 

Richie slid a hand over his face, looking up towards the peaceful sky. To think it wasn’t even noon. Oh well, there was no used dwelling over it all now. Eddie needed him.

Finally, the taxi pulled up and Richie got into the back seat in a hurry.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” The cab driver roared with a smile. His little mustache creased along his upper lip whenever he smiled. “I never thought I’d be hauling Richie Tozier in the back of my taxi! I have to get a picture and frame it!”

“Yeah, later, man! I need to get over to Hathaway Middle school, now!” Richie ordered, waving him off.

“Sure, do the kids want your autograph?” The driver pulled out into the road. Traffic was bad already. Cars honking. The light turning red at the wrong moment. It was never like this. 

Richie nervously sat forward, thumping his hand on the seat, unable to relax. “I wish! It’s my h-husband, Eddie. He’s sick. And guess whose car decided to that it didn’t wanna work properly today? Did you guess me? Good for you, you won a ride with me!” Richie joked, pointing at himself.

Of course, he had to stumble over that word. He still wasn’t used to being out to the public, having ignored and feared to be gay for decades. His announcement had some negative feedback, but he felt happier than he ever did before. Especially with Eddie.

“Oh man, poor guy. The flu is terrible at this time of year. You’re a good husband, you know that?” The cab driver complimented turning back to look at him. “I remember when I showed up to work sick once, I worked in an auto place, and then my wife showed up telling me, ‘I told you so!’”

Richie laughed along, half embarrassed. He took a deep breath through his nose. “Yeah, I’m the man, what can I say?”

The cab driver laughed heartily. “I’ll have you over to the school as soon as I can.”

While making small conversation and jokes with the cab driver, whose name was Harry, the ride felt long. Too long.  Why were there so many red lights today? And did people forget how to cross the street? Richie wanted to beep the horn to get this guy who was staring at his cell phone to pay attention.

Guilt hammered itself into Richie’s heart. Looking out at the passing city, Richie tried to take his mind off everything, to no avail. Don’t worry, Eds, I’m on my way.

And finally, the cab showed up at the school. Before the car even stopped, Richie threw open the door, running out. “Hey, thanks, sorry for being impatient. I wish I could give you that picture, but I don’t have time!”

“Do you want me to wait for you?” The cab driver asked him.

Richie blinked, turning back in his tracks. “Uh... I could be a while.”

“I’m used to waiting,” he said sincerely. “Don’t you think it’ll be tough trying to get another taxi? It’ll be the lunch run in a bit.”

That’s right! Guess he never turned his brain on this morning. “If that’s alright with you, I’ll be right back!” Richie said as he flung up the staircase to the school like a rabbit.

Entering the school, Richie hadn’t roamed school hallways since he graduated from high school. Richie cringed at the thought of being back in another middle school. If it weren’t for his friends, he would never have gotten through school. He bet his dad that he could get a career out of being a comedian without going to college. Richie was still swimming in that money.

Finding the office, the instant the secretary noticed him, she almost fell out of her seat, adjusting her eyeglasses. “Richie Tozier! I was not expecting you today! My son is a big fan!” she chirped as her cheeks grew red. 

Richie smirked, winking at her, obviously enjoying the attention. Still, he had to stay focused. “Wish I could be here for better circumstances. I need to take Eddie home.”

The secretary’s face immediately softened, cracking into a heartbreaking sad frown. “Oh, the poor guy. He looked as pale as a ghost when Mrs. Alliston brought him back here. I sure hope he is going to be okay. He is a sweetheart.”

Although his heart cracked at the awful thought of Eddie’s condition, Richie leaned against the counter trying to make the secretary smiled. “You got that right! Except when he’s cranky. Some mornings he is a real joy to wake up to because he tells me that I snore!”

Laughing, the secretary paged the principal. “Okay, I’ll send him back. Go on, Ruth is waiting for you,” she said getting up from her seat and opening the door to the main office.

Richie went on his way, winking at her again. “Thanks. Oh, and I own you an autograph!”

Walking into the back office, Richie met the principal, who stepped out from her office with a wide grin happily shaking his hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Tozier. Eddie has talked a lot about you.”

“Oh yeah, I hope it’s all good things!” Richie teased.

“Don’t worry. He loves talking about you. Don’t tell him I said this but sometimes the way he talks about you makes me think of him like a school girl! It’s quite amusing!”

Crossing his fingers, Richie was just seconds away from bursting into laughter. Definitely worth a save for teasing which was basically all they did. “So, where is he anyway?”

Her face turned back to worry, leading Richie down a small corridor of the office. “He’s asleep in the nurse’s office. The poor thing, when I went to put his belongings on a chair next to the bed he didn’t even stir.”

Guilt-ridden, Richie almost stumbled into a wall. “Jeez...”

“He’s in here,” she said indicating to a room with the lights out. “His belongings are on a chair next to the bed. If I’m right, the poor dear is still asleep. You’re going to have to wake him up.”

Richie waved it off like it was nothing. “Even if I tiptoe it wakes him up and he lectures me!” He snickered.

Mrs. Alliston laughed as she walked away. “Eddie is right. You are a card!”

“A real comedian, I am!” Richie joked as his hand fell on the door. He gingerly turned the knob and slowly opened the door. The room was dark, with the only source of light protruding from the covered windows. Once his eyes adjusted, it took a moment to find the bed. Once he did, Richie came across the small, thin form of his husband sleeping soundly on the nurse’s bed in the corner of the room, with a trash can pulled up near the bed. 

Feeling his heart drop into his stomach, his legs shaking, Richie exhaled and came into the room, closing the door just a smidge. Sure enough, Eddie was fast asleep, hardly making a noise. If it weren’t for the minute rise and fall from his chest, Eddie would have looked...

No... he couldn’t think that.

Richie quietly walked into the room, and slowly sat down on the bad. Eddie hardly stirred, sleeping peacefully. For a little bit, Richie sat there, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, letting him sleep a few more minutes. That gave him the time to study how sick he was. Even in this dim lighting, he could tell how sickly pale Eddie was.

For a moment he thought that he was back in the hospital, holding Eddie’s frail hand when the doctors notified them how they weren’t sure if Eddie would make it through the night. But, Eddie showed who was stronger.

Thinking back to the call, the realization that Eddie was sick and the fact that he didn’t even want to call him first Richie’s grip tightened. Richie couldn’t blame him. Eddie felt himself like he was a burden due to the years of being berated about every little thing he did. 

Oh, course he wouldn’t tell me. He thinks that vain in my head would pop!

Leaning down, Richie kissed his forehead, tasting the sweat rolling down his warm pale face. The worry and guilt set in even further, causing his grip to tighten. He had to get Eddie home now.

“And you thought I wouldn’t come help you, huh? Man, you’re crazy!” he whispered in a loud voice to his sleeping husband as he prepared to wake him up.

#Reddie #Reddie Fanfiction #IT Fanfiction #IT Movie #Richie Tozier #Eddie Kaspbrak #sick fic #cab #It 2017 #IT Stephen King #It Chapter 2

[shedoesthings]

I Need To Know - Part Six

Billy Hargrove x Reader

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

(Imagine the car window not being smashed for this part!)

Billy’s words seem to grate on me for the rest of the day. He was so incredibly cocky, acting as if he knew anything and everything about me. He knew nothing. He met me yesterday! How could he have a clue about anything?

‘Driving miss daisy?’

What was that? He didn’t have a clue how I felt about my life, he didn’t know what I wanted, what I needed, my plans for the future. Not to mention his demeanor, his constant winking, the attitude of a self-assured asshole with his head too far up his own ass to consider anyone else around him. And that damn smirk, that stupid damn smirk…

“Y/N…” Harrington sings as he practically skips down the hall towards me. I turn and laugh as others stare and laugh along.

“What can I help you with Harrington?” I laugh, closing my locker and leaning against it as he stops in front of me.

“Oh, I know you can help me because I have a pocket full of quarters and some intense feeling inside me which says I neeeeeed to play dig dug” he laughs. Steve had a strange obsession with dig dug whenever we went to the arcade. He was never any good, in fact he was crap. He could never get close to being on the leader board, but damn he did try.

“Well I think your craving can be quenched. Say six?”

“Perfect! Couldn’t think of anything better!” he smiles, picking up my bag from my feet and swinging it round his shoulder along with his own. He was still in grovelling mode, he knew there was no need, after a trip to the arcade we were always back to normal, but he decided to carry on anyway, and I did nothing to stop him. We walk towards the doors, still laughing together. He opens the door for me, holding it as I get through.

“Steve!” a voice shouts as it closes behind us. I turn to see Nancy stood in the hallway watching us walk away.

“Hey, Nancy’s calling you” I say, grabbing Steve’s arm lightly to make him stop.

“I know. I heard her”

“Have you not spoken to her yet?”

“No, I have” he says, looking at the ground around his feet. “She pulled me out of gym right when your new boyfriend ripped the ball out of my hands”

“New boy…” I begin to question before I realize who he’s talking about. “He is not my boyfriend” I say, shoving Steve’s arm as he laughs and begins to walk away from the school, probably to make sure Nancy doesn’t reach us.

“Whatever you say Y/N” he jokes.

“Stop changing the subject anyway!”

“I basically reminded her of everything she said last night, since she was apparently too drunk to remember” he says as we reach his car. He unlocks it, swinging both our bags in the back before we both climb in.

We talk the whole way home about what happened. How Nancy forgot the whole thing and pulled Steve out of basketball to ask why he hadn’t picked her up this morning. Steve told me how he asked her if she truly loved him, and she said yes, but she couldn’t actually say the words. And I could see the heartbreak behind Steve’s eyes, and the smile of him trying to be strong. He tried to brush it off, as he always did in these situations, but I knew him, and I knew how he was really feeling.

“Are you sure your okay?” I ask as he pulls up outside my house. “We don’t have to go to the arcade tonight, we can do a movie and ice cream night?” I suggest, since that was what he did for me when I was heartbroken that Grayson hadn’t asked me to the winter formal in middle school, since then it also became one of our regular solutions to suffering.

“Nah” he laughs. “I think the arcades a good solution for this one. Plus, I gotta get rid of these quarters somehow” he says with a smile. I smile back at him, I only wanted what was best for him, so if that was what he wanted, that would be it. “Six?”

“Six” I smile, closing the car door and waving as he drives off.

---

Six o’clock soon came around and I was running late. I had tried to call Steve’s house, hoping to catch him before he left, tell him I would be about ten minutes late since I had lost track of time doing some homework. But his mom picked up, telling me he had already left but was sure he wouldn’t be mad.

When I finally got to the arcade, I was twenty minutes late, I practically ran since I didn’t live too far away. When I got there, I was ready to do some grovelling of my own, tell him I had tried to ring, tell him about the homework and wait for the onslaught of jokes to come of me being a nerd. But I was wrong. His car wasn’t in the car park. He couldn’t have left already?

I rush into the arcade, hoping he was there somehow. That’s when I spot Mike, Nancy’s little brother with all of his friends. They look up from the game their playing, some roll playing one about slaughtering a dragon, before waving. Dustin was the one currently playing, but he still looks up and waves, clearly making him loose the game.

“Shit!” he shouts, kicking the machine. “Piece of shit!” I laugh and roll my eyes at them. I had never expected to know this group of kinds, but like I said before, when I became friends with Jonathan last year, things took a strange turn of events, now I shared more secrets with these kids then most of my high school friends.

Its Dustin who I need to talk to. Ever since last year the pair have become friends, but not in a weird way, move like a sibling relationship, I know Steve see’s him as a little brother now, so by default, I kind of took an older sister roll, to all of them really.

“Henderson” I smile as I walk towards the party.

“Y/N!” he cheers, the others cheering with him “Long time no see girl” he says, attempting a smirk before showing his teeth and doing some awkward growl thing. I give him a funny look before I burst out laughing.

“Nice teeth man, but please never do that again” I laugh.

“Told you it wouldn’t work” Lucas laughs, shoving Dustin’s arm lightly.

“I’m telling you, the ladies can’t resist these peals” he says before doing the growl again.

“What’s up Y/N?” Lucas asks after a second of glaring at Dustin.

“Any of you guys seen Steve? Has he been in here at all?”

“Haven’t seen him since the other day” Dustin replies.

“Not see his car outside? Nothing?”

“Nope. Sorry Y/N” Lucas replies. I see Mike pull more quarters out of his pocket and look around to see what games are free, suggesting my time here is short lived.

“No worries, cheers for the help guys. Enjoy!” I smile.

“Wait, wait!” Dustin splutters. “Are you sure you don’t want to hang with us for a while?”

“Dustin” Mike says quietly, clearly impatient.

“No, don’t worry about it guys. I’m sure I’ll catch you later. Stay safe!” I smile again as I turn on my heels and walk towards the door.

---

I’m check my watch again. Ten past seven. Where the hell is he? He didn’t call before I left, there’s been no sign of him here, no sign of him before I got here. Nothing. Where the hell is he.

I can feel my impatience grow. I didn’t feel annoyed, I could just feel some slight irritation since I had been waiting here so long.

I pull out the pack of cigarettes from my jacket pocket and light one up. At least if I was smoking, I wouldn’t look so weird for standing outside the arcade for so long. Then, the rev of an engine as it pulls into the car park.

Of course. Of all the places in Hawkins, of all the places in the world, of course it had to be him, at this time as well.

“Be back out here in an hour or…”

“I know, I know. Or I’m skating home” says a girls voice. I see a red headed girl climb out of the blue Camaro.

“Hey! Watch the attitude!” his voice shouts as she slams the door and rushes past me into the arcade. I hope for a second he hasn’t seen me, that he just drives away. My irritation was already high, I didn’t want to have it raised anymore by him. But my hope disintegrates as the engine turns off and a car door opens. He gets out and walks closer, leaning against the passenger side door so he is facing me.

“Can I help you Hargrove?” I say blankly as I blow smoke out of my nose.

“It’s funny. For someone who was so sure that we’d only speak once we sure seem to be running into each other a lot.”

“You do have a bad habit of appearing right when you’re not wanted”

“See, I think I seem to appear when you need me most” he smirks, which makes me scoff.

“When have I ever ‘needed you’”

“Well, you needed my cigarettes last night. You needed my car this morning for a ride. I’m guessing they’re my cigarettes your smoking now.” He laughs. “And I’m also guessing your needing something to do now, or do you just plan of standing outside the arcade for the rest of the night like a weirdo.” Maybe he had a point… No. I didn’t need him, he just happened to be convenient recently.

“I’m waiting for Steve”

“Again?” he laughs, but there’s a hint of pity in this laugh. And the pity had a point. This had happened a lot these past few days, me waiting around miserably for someone who wasn’t turning up. “Come on” he says, patting the passenger car door before walking round to the driver’s side.

“Come on where?” I didn’t want to be curious, but I couldn’t deny a part of me was. What else was I going to do with my night? Wait around here for Steve who probably won’t show, just to go home and spend the weekend alone, waiting to see him on Monday for whatever apology he would surely give? Or maybe… be a little impulsive? No. I didn’t know him. I met him yesterday, how could I go off somewhere again with him, especially at night…

“Just on a ride?”

“Where?”

“I thought I was the one who asks too many questions” he laughs, smirking again. “I’m not gonna force you Y/N, the choice is yours. If you want to wait around here all night in the cold that’s up to you, or you can come for a drive, and maybe, actually have a bit of fun for once” he says with a smile, but his voice doesn’t sound dirty like it usually does, there’s an actual hint of friendliness about it.

“You’re not gonna murder me?” I ask, partly to be funny, partly out of worry.

“No” he smirks. “The second you want to go home, we’ll turn around and I’ll drop you off. Deal?” he says with a wink, licking his lips. I take a second to look at him. His leather jacket and red shirt underneath unbuttoned just enough to show a little muscle. His eyes staring up as me, the streetlight adding a little glint in them. A rush of cold air blows and pushes me into making a decision as I step towards the car.

“Deal”

Requested Tags x 

@savingprivatecass @nightshade7117 @xxcxrolinexx @justmesadgirl @silver-winter-wolf @mynameispurple @leslxo @noodlenerd101 @non-binarycryptid @thefandomzoneisdangerous @writteninthestars288 @frenchieswiftie @dreamwavej @itsanallygator @idjitdestiel @rosehargreeves @slvtherinseeker @florenceivy @bandsandanimefreak @spn-marvel-nerd @majesticmarvelnerd @canny1902 @blablasomethingblabla  @i-bitch-you-bitch @keira1416 @ashadowoftheforest @queenbbarnes @thecynicalviolinist @salemlysi @hardygal69 @billyhargrovescigarette @hella-anxious 

#stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things 2 #stranger things 3 #billy hargove x reader #Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove imagine #steve harrington #king steve #will byers #Joyce Byers #jonathan byers #mike wheeler #Nancy Wheeler #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #eleven #hopper #jim hopper #the upside down

[sad3girl]

do a headcanon for the byers+el And Hopper BUT not in canon timeline, more like if Hop hadn’t died and that 3 months later was him and El moving in instead of the Byers moving out

I started this and then someone called me and you know tumblr it didn’t save shit, so this is going to be a shitty version of what I originally planned.

I can do canon or AU headcanons you guys just let me know, here we go:

Hopper and Joyce trying to take it slow (and failing)

Hopper finally taking Joyce on that date and it being slightly awkward at first

Then getting over the awkwardness and it turning into the best date of their lives

Hopper kissing her when he drops her off at her place

Joyce getting home with the biggest smile plastered on her face

Hopper getting to his motel room (because his damn house was destroyed) and being glad El was staying at Max’s because if she saw his goofy smile now she would never shut up about it

Hopper taking Joyce out a lot and treating her to all her favorite foods

Always wearing his super fashionable shirts

And getting made fun of by El because of them

Secretly, Will and Jonathan also make fun of him

The kids being super happy for their parents

El staying over at the Byers a lot because Hopper doesn’t want her to stay at motels all that much

El staying over at Max’s a lot too because of that

After the first couple of weeks, Joyce and Hopper start having more dates in, just at her place

Hopper tried to cook once, and it doesn’t go over that well

Joyce teaching El many ways to do her hair

Will and El hanging out and becoming friends

Jonathan teaching Will and El about music

Will and El drawing together all the time

El bonding with Will about the Upside Down and feeling like they don’t fit in

Jonathan driving El to her dates with Mike, and becoming just a bit protective of her

The Byers boys and El constantly teasing Joyce and Hopper

Hopper and El having dinner with the Byers every Sunday

Hopper and Joyce hosting a Sunday barbecue every other weekend for the whole gang

Joyce going shopping with El

Hopper giving advice to Jonathan about pursuing his dreams

Hopper becoming a father figure for Will, who was always verbally abused by his real father

Joyce giving El the talk, much to Hopper’s dismay

Movie nights with the Byers boys and El when their parents go out

Will and El covering for Jonathan when he sleeps over at Nancy’s

Movie nights with Hopper, Joyce and the kids

Mike going over to the Byers to have dinner with all of them

Mike apologizing to Hopper and respecting him

Hopper warming up to Mike, eventually

Hopper and El having game nights with the Byers

Hopper and El having father daughter time

Them going out to dinner, to the movies, and Hopper teaching her how to play poker

Mike actually apologizing to Will and being a good friend again

Mike making more time to spend with his friends, both as a group and one on one

Will telling Mike he was right about him not liking girls

Mike having known for a long time that was true, but not judging him for it (”it may have been true, but I said it like it was a bad thing, and it isn’t, it was stupid and I’m really sorry”)

Joyce teasing Hopper every time El goes out with Mike

Hopper and Joyce being really over the top on the PDA in front of their kids to annoy them

Hopper gradually moving in and while they both notice, neither says anything

Will and Jonathan being completely done with them every time they get cheesy

El never being annoyed at their PDA but thinking it’s romantic

Max spending the night at the Byers a lot because her house reminds her of Billy

Max and Will annoying Mike and El by pretending to be grossed out by them all the time

Max giving Mike advice when he’s an idiot because she feels bad (”i swear if anyone finds out, you won’t be dead but you will wish you were”)

Max and Mike being best friends but acting like they hate each other 

Their bickering getting to everyone’s nerves

Nancy and Jonathan spending more time at the Wheeler’s place because it seems like the Byers home is always full nowadays

People in town talking about Joyce and Hopper’s relationship

El meeting Mike’s parents

Ted being shocked to learn his son has a girlfriend (because unlike Karen he pays zero attention)

Karen being so happy to finally meet El (because listening in on their phone calls didn’t do their cuteness justice)

Karen taking a million pictures of them, to the point it gets really awkward, but she is so proud of her baby boy

And obviously Karen showing El Mike’s baby pictures (and El having to pretend she has never seen them before)

Hopper trying to help out by going to the supermarket but forgetting it isn’t just him and El anymore, so instead of buying what was on the list buying only junk food

Joyce telling him to just clean up if he wants to help and to leave the shopping to her

Hopper and Joyce being domestic and married AF

Joyce going to the station to have lunch with Hopper during her break

The Party getting to officially meet Suzie

The girls becoming instant friends with her

Lucas and Max breaking up every other week

Everyone making fun of Lucas for it

The Party playing D&D again

Lucas and Will spending two weeks planning a campaign

Max making so much fun of her boyfriend for being a giant dork

But still playing the game

El getting really into Wonder Woman, and eventually just into comics in general (her favorite superhero ends up being Scarlet Witch, but Wonder Woman is right there too)

Dustin and El going to the comic book store way too much

Steve being the one to drive them and complaining the whole time

But reading a couple of comics while he waits for them

Dustin and El just being the best of friends

Max, Dustin and El being an iconic trio

Will and Mike having really deep conversations

Lucas trying to get El’s advice when he and Max fight

And failing

Instead getting advice from Mike, who knows what to say because Max told him

The Party being normal, carefree kids 

El learning to live without her powers

Hopper being there to hold her when it gets too much and she breaks down

El feeling kind of useless without her powers

But having her friends and family to remind her she isn’t useless, and that they love her

Will coming out to his friends and family one by one, after a lot of talking things through with his bestie

Some being more shocked than others (Hopper suspected, Joyce and Jonathan knew, and so did Max, because let’s be honest she came from California)

El not getting why it’s a big deal Will likes boys (”so? i like boys too” “yeah, but you’re a girl” “so?” “i don’t know, that’s normal!” “why?” “because!” “well, that’s stupid” “yeah, i guess it is”)

Hopper becoming even more protective of Will after that

The Byers-Hopper clan going back to school shopping

El wanting everything that sparkles and is colorful

Will laughing at Hopper’s “i’m about to shoot myself” face

Jonathan picking the least amount possible of things so his younger sibling can get better stuff

Hopper and Joyce arguing about whose car they should take when they go out (“mine is newer!” “well mine isn’t a police car Hop” “and mine is bigger too!”)

School starts and El being really nervous

El and Will sleeping in the same room when they are scared, anxious, nervous,etc

Will and El talking about their fears for high school the day before they start freshman year

The Party having an awesome first day of school

Until they leave and Troy corners them

El being confused about what the term ‘fairy’ means

Once Max tells her, wishing she still had her powers

But realizing you don’t need powers when you have fists the next day when Troy calls Will that again

Getting low key high-fived by Lucas and Max while Will chastises her for punching Troy

The Party going out with Steve, Nancy, Jonathan and Robin on Friday to talk about their first week

Things not being perfect, but pretty damn good because they all had each other

#stranger things #stranger things spoilers #stranger things 3 #eleven #will byers #joyce byers #jopper #hopper #jim hopper #jane hopper #el #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #mike wheeler #mileven #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #lumax #dustin henderson #steve harrington #dustin and steve #dustin and suzie #suzie #steve and robin #robin stranger things #robin #the party #headcanon #stranger things headcanon #ask

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Will Byers: The Great Debate

I know I still have some requested analyses to do, but I’m in a rotten mood, and I need to vent.

This whole debate on Will and whether he is gay has me infuriated. Yeah, I know I’m heavily biased due to my identification with the character, but I’m still pissed. The assumption that Will isn’t gay until they explicit state it is solely based on heteronormativity. In pop culture, people are simply assumed straight until proven otherwise. It’s the reason why they were able to hoodwink everyone with Robin in the first place. With just a mention of her saying she was obsessed with Steve in high school, everyone assumed the two of them would be a thing by the end of the season. That was a totally acceptable assumption to make. Thinking Will is gay? No, they need to tell us that.

There are reasons to think Will is gay, and certainly more than the casual fan probably realizes. I will go over them here, not that I need to lecture anyone who actually reads this on the topic.

1) Will is stated as having sexual identity issues in the original character summary.

Let’s just get this one out of the way. Yeah, it’s not known to the average viewer, but it’s still valid. Sure, they could have since deviated from the original plan, and by itself it may mean nothing, but it’s supporting evidence.

2) Will is bullied for being gay.

This is another one that doesn’t mean anything by itself. Will is bullied for being gay by both his father and the local bully. They could have used any number of similar characteristics, but they went with gay. Will is small, sweet, and honest, so there’s possibilities like mama’s boy, sissy, etc that could have gotten a similar point across without bringing in sexuality. It’s not just a passing mention. It comes up when Joyce talks to Hopper, and he even asks if it’s true. Troy is an absolute monster as he twists the knife in Mike’s wound. Troy bullies the other three for cruel, but accurate, reasons. He mocks Lucas’ race, Dustin’s lack of teeth, and Mike’s face (Mike kinda got off easy if you ask me). Now Troy may or may not be correct, but he probably thinks he is. He digs into each character’s deepest insecurities. He exists to tell us this information. If Will’s sexuality is unimportant, then why have Troy bully him the same way Will’s own father did? Troy simply could have made fun of him for being poor.

3) Will is especially close to Mike

This is made clear in every season. Yeah, they’re best friends, but Will and Mike are depicted as special. From the very start, Will can’t bring himself to lie to Mike. Yeah, I know, you can excuse the whole “It was a 7.” thing as just him foreshadowing his ordeal, but why set it up with Lucas telling him it’s ok as long as Mike doesn’t know? Mike is similarly shown as close to Will, with him being the most concerned. Dustin and Lucas are clearly worried too, and upset when the body is found, but Mike is shown taking it the hardest. They’re telling us the two of them share something special. Season 2 doubles down on this  hard. Mike is the only one Will trusts with what’s happening to him. Mike is the only one he is shown remembering other than is mother. Mike is ultimately the one who breaks through to him. 

4) Will is extremely jealous when Mike and El get together.

I don’t know why this one is hard for people to see. Maybe they’re just not looking for it. Yeah, some of it is just some good, subtle acting. Will is upset every single time Mike is shown showing affection for El. It technically starts in the Season 2 script with Will’s eyes being on Mike as they were all dancing. I know I’ve seen a clip of Will glancing over and looking upset, but I don’t remember that from the actual release. Was that a deleted scene? If so, its removal is conspicuous, especially with that released script. The jealousy is still apparent throughout Season 3. The sad looks on Will’s face whenever Mike and El are together, when Mike says he loves her. The anger he shows towards Mike, and only Mike, despite Dustin and Lucas similarly being focused on girls. I know I’ve seen people say he smiles when El dumps Mike. I honestly can’t tell, but he does look away, suggesting he doesn’t want his reaction to be noticed.

5) Mike is able to evoke emotion in Will

For the most part, Will is a quiet kid. He’s soft-spoken and has an innocence about him. He has a little frustration in Season 2, due to people treating him differently (though he leaves Mike out of his accusations), but he’s generally a go with the flow guy. Mike has the power to calm Will, to cheer him up, and make him cry both good and bad tears. Even in Season 3, his D&D annoyance is a slow build. It’s ultimately Mike’s rejection that sets him off. It’s specifically the fact that he feels he’s losing Mike. They were building that frustration alongside the D&D the entire season to that point. Is it really that much of a stretch for D&D to be a metaphor here? He jabs Mike over El when Mike tries to apologize, accusing him of throwing everything away over a “stupid girl.” Now, this “stupid girl” is supposed to be a friend of his, one who has helped save him twice. Will looks around Castle Byers at a D&D book and a drawing of Will the Wise. Both are accompanied by flashbacks beginning with Mike’s voice. He tears up the photo from Halloween, the night of the Crazy Together moment, right down the middle where Mike and Will are depicted. Will ends up destroying Castle Byers, berating himself the entire time, before collapsing in anguish. Yeah, it can be open to interpretation, but it’s not hard to see that Will could be calling himself stupid for thinking he and Mike shared something special now that El is in the picture. I’d like the people who think Will just isn’t ready to grow up to explain to me why that scene felt more like a breakup than a friend fight.

6) Will seems relatively trauma-free

Now, this is actually an issue I have with the show, as Will, along with pretty much the entire cast, should be amazingly traumatized. I bring it up only to counter the idea that Will has lost a portion of his childhood to the Upside Down, and so he’s not ready to grow up. Will has lost about two weeks of his childhood. He showed some issues in Season 2 before getting possessed, but he’s also shown enjoying his childhood as well. Just because we rejoin his life when bad stuff returns to Hawkins it doesn’t mean he had no life in the interim. He didn’t spend every day since getting rescued from the Upside Down in a hospital or deprived of his friends. There’s honestly no reason why Eleven would be more ready for adolescence than Will. If anything, Will should be associating his trauma with D&D and avoiding it like the plague. It should be causing him post-traumatic stress. He should want to get as far away from reminders of what happened as possible. A game with mindflayers and demogorgons isn’t something he should want. He has a reason for wanting D&D, and it’s not that he’s still a kid inside, because he still had other interests before Season 3, like comics, drawing, and the arcade.

7) Will not liking girls doesn’t just mean he doesn’t like them yet

This is the other counter argument I’ve noticed: that Will just hasn’t matured to liking girls yet. While it’s not unbelievable for a boy his age to not start sexually maturing, there’s really no indication of this. He isn’t just uncomfortable dancing with the girl in Season 2, he flat out doesn’t want to do it. He also has no problem with Max joining them for Halloween, stating that Dustin and Lucas were excited about it so he ok’d it. He understands boys liking girls. He shows no real hostility towards Dustin or Lucas for it. When he tells Joyce he’s never going to fall in love, it doesn’t sound like a kid who finds the idea of dating gross. He sounds sad as he says it. When Mike says it’s not his fault Will doesn’t like girls, Will is stunned into silence. Now Mike doesn’t know if Will is gay, and Will may not really know either, but it cuts deep.

In conclusion

By no means is my interpretation definitely correct. I could be absolutely wrong. But why is my interpretation seen as ridiculous? My theory isn’t perfect, but I have evidence. I have rebuttals to alternate interpretations. If we’re not meant to think Will is gay, why does it seem like they keep giving us reasons to? If it’s not important, people from the show could easily just say so. Noah and Finn end up having to awkwardly respond to questions they may not even have the answers to. 

It’d be very strange if the Duffers and their team somehow painted themselves into a corner by accident. It’s possible, sure, but I don’t see how it could keep happening. Finn had said they had other takes of “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” including one that added “yet”, but stated that they ultimately went with the one in question. Well, I mean, they chose to go with that one. I don’t know why, but neither do the people saying Will is just immature. We speculate, and if I speculate that they went with that one because that’s the storyline they’re going for and are trying to keep it under wraps, then I should be allowed to do so without being scoffed at. I may be biased because of my bisexuality, but they’re also biased because of their heteronormativity. 

#stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #byeler #stranger things 3 #spoilers

[imaginetrahs]

ST3 really messed me up last night but there are some things that I feel should have been touched on so here I go:

Billy and Max’s relationship should have had a development scene. Obviously after max told billy to leave her and her friends alone they kind of had a sort of bonding period and we should’ve got that development instead of the Billy and Karen scenes 🙄

Billy and Karen shouldn’t have happened at all in any way AT ALL and I’m so glad that he told her to leave him alone but I still feel as if those scenes weren’t need because they really didn’t do anything for the plot of the show. I’m also glad that Karen came to her senses and thought about her family and not just her hormones because she must have forgot that Billy is a TEENAGER who is around the age of her oldest two children 😕 sis was ready to catch a case over some teenage dick smh

I don’t care what anyone says Mike and Elevens relationship is cute af 🤷🏽‍♀️ along with Max and Lucas. Yes Mike and El kissed a lot but they’re young and really like each other and in the honeymoon phase ALONG with Max and Lucas. So they’ll fight and argue over stupid shit but in the end their friendship is more important (if that makes sense) idrk where I’m going with this one but they’re cute and leave them alone

MAX AND EL ARE THE FRIENDSHIP I DIDNT KNOW I NEEDED. I really loved that Max helped El find who SHE was and who everyone wanted her to be. El’s not just Mikes girlfriend, shes not just Hoppers adopted/daughter, she’s not the groups secret weapon, she’s not the girl with powers, and she’s definitely not the girl who was abused as a child. Eleven is just a teenage girl trying to find herself in a world with monsters and shit and for Max to come around and help her find herself was really what El and all of us needed

Will Byers and Dustin Henderson just needed their friends and they weren’t there for them. After all the shIT WILL HAS BEEN THROUGH HE DESERVED JUST ONE FUCKING GAME OF D&D, he deserved it. When Dustin needed his friends to believe that his girlfriend was real they didn’t until they needed her to save the world smh. THEY DESERVED BETTER.

Will Byers had a breakdown and I was here for it. Not in a bad way. I think he needed to let off that steam because of everything from his friends being more worried about their girlfriends to the MF being back to Mikes comment about him not liking girls. Which I don’t think Mike should’ve thrown that back in face ESPECIALLY if he was the only person that knew. Lucas to the time to TRY and apologize but MIKE DIDNT?

Joyce and Hopper are a dynamic duo. Joyce deserves happiness and to not have every love interest killed off. This move will be good for her and the kids even though I feel like they’re going to come back at some point.

Hopper was so accepting of death, which I guess you kind of have to be when it’s right ther but ugh it was still so sad. He and Joyce will never get to have that date on Friday at 7 at Enzo’s 😪.

Steve Harrington and Robin. A beautiful pairing although they had me fools when I thought there was a possible love relationship going to happen

ALEXI DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE

I don’t care what anyone says about this either because I believe they Billy truely deserved better. This season really showed us a different side of him and for him to get redemption at the END of the season is fucked up😪. Because like I said earlier he and Max obviously had to bond over the 2 year time period and I’m pretty sure during that time there was some sort of affection between them and I don’t think El should’ve been the only one to bring that out of him. HOWEVER we did see a broken piece of him during the sauna scene towards Max, but I guess 🤷🏽‍♀️ (I’m not excusing anything he’s done cause it was all shitty af)

Eleven, 011, Jane Hopper. All she wanted was a family and a home and when she finally got it, it was ripped away from her. And then she lost her powers 😪 there was a point in time where I really didn’t think she was going to make to the end because she was just so tired and she kept pushing herself to keep everyone safe.

ERICA SINCLAIR a true icon 👏🏽 she had so many iconic lines: “isn’t it time you died” “you can’t spell America without Erica” “Commence Opperation Child Endangerment” “nerds” plus her whole speech about communism. A true icon

Maxine Mayfield, Max, Mad Max. I’ll never get over how hurt she was about Billy which goes to show that had gotten closer and we should’ve been able to see it because although they ‘hated’ each other they were still siblings and loved each other without admitting it

Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers. Really we should call Nancy: Nancy Byers because come on, it’s gonna happen 🤗. I didn’t really like the whole working for the newspaper scenes, I don’t think they did anything for the season but I guess if you look at it from a being involved type view it all works out. Many and her moms heart-to-heart was really nice because none of the other parents, except Joyce and Hopper, are around to comfort their children and be around them to ask about their days.

Can we talk about the last episode. Jeez oh man, I cried like a baby. Like a really long ugly cry from Billy’s redemption scene all the way to the Byers and El leaving. What really fucked me up was when El started reading the letter and Hopper did the voice over. It was so sad because he never got to have that talk with her and I know he really wanted to. That letter is really the last heart felt thing she has left from Hopper and it makes it worse when we don’t know who is actually in Russia

But let’s talks about that. WHO TF IS IN RUSSIA???? I’ve seen some people say Billy and others say Hopper but really it can be either one here’s why. When Joyce turned the keys Hopper was on the other side of the magnetic force field and could have got transported to the Russian lab like how El got zapped to the upside down at the end of season 1. It could be Billy because he was used by the MF and I don’t think it’s done with him just like that because if that was the case Will wouldn’t be connected to it 🙂. So maybe after billy ‘died’ the Russians came back and took him and he woke up in Russia. AND where did they get the demogorgon from which leads to believe that a little sliver of the gate is still open somehow because how are they keeping it alive out of its habitat aside from feeding it people. It’s just a theory.

I think that’s about it. All in all the season was pretty great and I- I’m just still broken over these deaths.

when I see MF I read it a mother fucker instead of Mind Flayer and that says something 😗

#billy hargrove #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #mike wheeler #jonathan byers #will byers #joyce byers #jim hopper #eleven #jane hopper #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #dustin henderson #starnger things #stranger things 3 #karen wheeler #maxine mayfield #mad max #millie bobby brown #finn wolfhard #noah schnapp #gaten matarazzo #dacre montgomery #joe keery #natalia dyer #charlie heaton #caleb mclaughlin #winona ryder #david harbour

[jon-astronaut]

not a hero

I have been seeing too much of the “Steve will die next season protecting Dustin” theories and I was inspired to write this little thing so here you go. Yes, I cried writing this. Yes, I love pain.

*****

not a hero

It’s a little over than a year later when the same shit show happens.

Steve grabs his bat, the one he so terribly missed in the summer of ’85, and curses under his breath to their luck.

He doesn’t understand the science side of things. He is not even sure anybody understands at this point-not even the genius, nerd kids. So he is quite confused as to why they have to do this over and over again in some sort of cycle.

He doesn’t say it out loud though. He just marches into battle like he had done in the Byers house with Nancy and Jonathan in ’83 or at the junkyard with Dustin, Max and Lucas in ’84 or in the Russian base where he attacked the guard and later crashed a car in ’85.

Dustin is right by his side like always. The kid, he is a teen now but whatever Steve needs to keep his authority, is the brains. He makes the plans, he shows them the way and Steve just follows.

Robin, his age-appropriate best friend, is right by his side too. She is both the brains and the muscles. She makes some parts of the plan and fights along side of Steve.

Erica, a literal kid he befriended, is with them too. She might be smarter than Dustin, Steve thinks but doesn’t say. She gets them out of trouble and keeps them moving.

Every little group gets together. They exchange their stories and try to understand the big picture. Piece by piece they plot out a plan. Everyone has their own tasks.

It takes a few hours and Steve takes more than a few hits to his face but it’s almost over.

Some of the groups are already back together but the threat is still there. This new kind of monster they are facing almost looks like a human.

They hear noises again and everybody goes on full alert mode. Steve and Robin pulls Erica and Dustin behind them. Lucas, Max and Will clutches together with Jonathan next to them. Eleven is somewhere else using her powers and Mike is, obviously, with her and Nancy too.

The "real adults” are on their own mission so the most adult person in the room is Steve. He is in nowhere qualified to be a real adult but he knows he needs to be; he knows everybody there is his responsibility.

A monster barges to them and everybody spreads away. Robin drags Erica by the arm. Dustin runs to the other side. Lucas is pulls his slingshot. Jonathan has his axe. Max and Will backs up. Steve holds his bat tight.

Lucas hits the monster. Steve and Jonathan swing their weapons of choice. It looks like they are going to win.

Steve makes a head count. He knows Erica is safe with Robin. Before the monster gets to Max and Will it needs to go through Steve, Jonathan and Lucas so that’s not going to happen. Steve and Jonathan are between Lucas and the monster so he is relatively safe too. Steve can make sure the monster doesn’t touch Jonathan.

Dustin…He frantically searches for the curly haired boy and spots him across them by his hat. That stupid hat.

It’s that moment Steve sees another monster approaching to Dustin. He shares a look with Jonathan and runs away hoping Byers could deal with that previous monster.

Dustin is practically his best friend, like the little brother he never had. Dustin found him heartbroken and dragged him into chasing demo dogs. He patched Steve up with colorful band-aids after he lost a fight and cheered on Steve a year later when he won a fight. Dustin was the one person that got happy for Steve when he graduated and even when he got that shitty job at Scoops Ahoy. He still hangs out with Steve though he doesn't need Steve and his bat. The shit head is so smart and so curious; he made Steve get a library card just because he needed to check out more books. Dustin has the biggest heart. He never shows how sad he truly is, he never hurts his friends.

If you die, I die; echoed in Steve’s brain.

Dustin is Steve’s responsibility maybe his first responsibility. It doesn’t matter if the younger boy is smarter, more resourceful than Steve. It doesn’t matter if Steve says “Germans?” and Dustin corrects him saying “Nazis.”. It doesn’t matter if Dustin has his life more together than Steve. Steve was the older one, the protector or as everyone liked to call "the mom”. Hell, he knows he acts like a mom with all his ordering and driving the little shits around and letting them crash into his house and cooking for them.

So Steve pushes a startled Dustin back causing him to almost fall to the ground. He swings his bat but he is slower than usual. It doesn’t do the damage he intends to.

He tries to swing the bat again, ignoring his heart beating in his ears and the fear growing inside him.

But it’s too late.

The monster jumps on him. His bat falls to the ground. Next thing he knows he is on the ground too looking up at the face of the demogorgon that had been in his nightmares for the past three years.

Dustin is in his vision now. He is about to run to the older boy and Steve tries to scream and tell him to go hide but he can’t get the words out of his mouth. Thankfully, Erica escapes from Robin’s grasp and stops Dustin.

Erica, is too wise for her age and deals with too much for her age.

Steve hears a few shouts. Jonathan and Lucas takes down the other monster but Steve knows they won’t be making next to him in time. Will and Max are already next to Dustin.

Robin somehow finds a gun. She starts shooting at the demogorgon. Robin gets closer and Steve is barely holding on.

Before he goes, he just needs to know everybody else makes it out alive. A few seconds later the demogorgon flies away. Steve, with his half-shot eyes, sees El approaching to them. Steve wishes he had the chance to know the girl better.

The next five seconds feels like a good ten minutes to Steve.

He always thought “the life flashing before your eyes” was too cheesy and not true. Like in many things, he is gravely mistaken. 

His mom making him pancakes. Rolling up a joint with Tommy H. Everybody in school watching Steve. The teary look on a freshman’s face when King Steve makes fun of him. Nancy Wheeler and her sweet smile. Nancy slapping him. Him realizing the jerk he is. Seeing the demo gorgon. Running back inside. Jonathan throwing the lighter. Draining the pool in his house. Driving Nancy to school. Bullshit. Dustin grabbing the roses in his hands. Giving Dustin advice. Protecting the kids time and time again. A plate to his head. Driving Dustin and the little shits around everyday. Dustin getting him a radio for his birthday. The party trying to teach him D&D. Dustin beaming when Steve agrees to have a special handshake with him. His father saying how much of a disappointment he is. Robin and her white board. Winning his first fight. Robin coming out to him. The vomit and blood on his stupid uniform as they laugh. Going to Hopper’s funeral. Max smiling for the first time in weeks when Steve buys her a new skateboard. Driving around with Robin as she sings at the top of her lungs. Giving Dustin driving lessons. Babysitting Erica and getting schooled by her. The party teaching him what Ewoks are. 

He wishes the images were only the good ones. But that’s life for you. At least he has enough good memories to balance out the bad and the traumatic ones.

Maybe he should start using past tense. He is almost slipping away after all.

It’s okay. Dustin will miss him terribly and probably blame himself but he has the party. Robin will lose her confidant but she has Dustin and Erica. The kids have each other. Nancy and Jonathan have each other.

It’s not like he is a key piece in all these battles. He is not Hopper. They can all go on with their monster fighting and regular lives just fine.

He is pushing only 21 but it’s really okay. He feels like he lived a life three times longer than that. He went from being a nice kid to a stupid teenager who had his head far up his ass to surrounding himself with better people and apologizing to adopting a bunch of kids to befriending the coolest band geek and getting a dead end job. He did all these while fighting to save the world from inter dimensional monsters too.

He wasn’t a hero, though. He was just a regular person who found himself in the middle of action and tried doing his best which meant swinging a nail cladded bat and occasionally punching the bad guys.

It’s a good finish to his life. His life wasn't going anywhere : that’s a fact. He would have been stuck in Hawkins his whole life (not being good enough for anywhere else) probably becoming broke after refusing to work for his father. Everybody else’s lives are going somewhere though. Dustin is too smart for this old town. He will probably go off to a top university and become a mad scientist and maybe even marry Suzie somewhere in the future.

Steve wishes he could be there to see it all. He is pretty sure Dustin wouldn’t take that hat off in his graduation or his wedding.

Steve sees a mop of curly hair running to him, screaming his name.

He drifts off before Dustin reaches him.

He knows this is exactly what a big brother should be like.

He knows at least his last two years and his death had a meaning.

#stranger things #steve harrington #dustin henderson #robin buckley