#I do want Steve and Robin saving each other from the horrors just as they rescued each other emotionally | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

loveinhawkins · 1 year

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Part 1 Part 2

Behind him, Eddie hears the others beginning to stir. The illusion, the foolish hope that he could just keep driving alone with Steve, that he could have all the time in the world to fix this shatters in a matter of seconds: Nancy’s light tread approaches and, as he reaches an intersection, it’s like he can already hear a clock beginning to tick.

“Why… why are we going this way?”

And, God, Eddie is so damn grateful for Nancy Wheeler: she’s tactful, keeps her voice down, as if she already suspects something. Hell, she must do; if Eddie can recall directions to Steve’s house, she’ll definitely sense where they’re heading.

Another stop light. Straight ahead after this, then…

Eddie glances to the side, just in time to see Nancy’s eyes widen as she looks at Steve.

She whispers his name.

Steve gives the subtlest shake of his head.

Eddie has to look away—it’s an intimate exchange, yes, but it’s not romantic, that’s not why he can’t bear it. It’s the fact that they’re so clearly sharing last-minute signals, silent communication only created by going through hell over and over again, and it makes him feel sick that he now knows what their expressions mean. Their doomsday looks.

When he pulls up to Steve’s driveway, he hears various murmurs of confusion—Dustin is the loudest.

Steve claps his hands and everyone falls abruptly silent.

“Okay!” he says, rising from his seat, and he sounds determined, almost up-beat; Christ, Eddie doesn’t know how he manages it. “Sinclairs, Mayfield, Henderson, you’re all with me. We’ll be in and out, got it?”

He heads out of the RV with purpose. Save for Eddie and Nancy, everyone is looking at each other with wide eyes and furrowed brows. Robin opens her mouth, but before she can say anything, Steve calls from outside, “Hello? Come on, let’s go!” and it sounds so normal, like they’re just running late for school or something.

I might not have known, Eddie thinks, with a creeping horror. If I had slept instead… fuck, why are you such a good actor, Steve?

Erica leads the way out, prompting the others to follow; Eddie hears frantic whispers that he can’t decipher, Max lifting up one side of her headphones so she can hear as Dustin and Lucas crowd close to her, hopping outside and heading to the house.

Robin moves to the RV door, but Nancy stops her.

“Robin, stay here. I need to talk to you,” she says firmly, and it sounds like Code Red. She fixes Eddie with a pointed look and nods towards the house, like it’s not even a question that Eddie should go after Steve.

So, he does. Of course he does.

He finds them all in the kitchen, voices echoing, rebounding off the high ceiling.

“What are we doing?” Lucas says.

The kids have formed a little group by the counter, staring as Steve opens cupboards, his back to them.

“Want some back-up alcohol for Operation Flambé,” Steve says easily, “just in case.”

It could almost work, Eddie thinks. He can hear the clinking of glass as Steve methodically pulls bottles off the shelves—that is what he’s doing, so it’s not exactly a lie. Not yet. But he looks at the growing frowns of shrewd kids that are too used to waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Steve must sense it, too, because he stops collecting bottles, turns round to face them. He gets closer, rests his hands on the counter. The pretense drops.

“...Steve?” Erica says.

“You guys trust me, right?”

Eddie doesn't answer; he knows it's not directed towards him. He watches as the rest nod as one. Steve takes a deep breath.

“This is the deal, non-negotiable, okay? I don’t ask much from you, so, y’know. Figure you owe me one.” He’s smiling again, his tone flippant; he’s trying so hard to make it easy for them. Eddie digs his fingernails into his palms. “Here’s your jobs for tonight: you stay right here. Eat some food, put on a movie, I don't care. Just no moving.” He points at Max. “You keep that Walkman on. I've got... see that cabinet, by the T.V? Got some tapes in there, Hounds of Love is on the... third row, I think? Yeah, see the purple? If your one wears out, you've got a back-up.”

They just stare at him. Relief sweeps through Lucas’s and Max’s shoulders, even as they stand rigid with tension, like they’re at war with themselves. Like they feel ashamed at the instinct to stay safe. Christ, they’re all just too young, far too young for any of this.

And so are you, Eddie thinks fiercely, as he watches Steve sweep past them, going up the stairs two at a time. So are you.

Dustin snaps out of it first. He moves forward, voice sharp and urgent, “Steve? Steve!” He barges past Eddie like he isn't even there, then thunders up the stairs.

Eddie follows.

He hears the tail-end of Max saying, “Lucas, he's... I can't feel him anymore. Why can't I—?” Then, he reaches the top of the stairs, heads to what must be Steve’s bedroom. He hovers in the doorway.

“—not even going to look at me?” Dustin is asking.

Steve doesn't answer. He's rooting around one of his drawers, distractedly pulls out a cassette, puts it into his jeans pocket. Eddie sees the horrible moment where it clicks for Dustin—of course, it barely takes half a second, kid's as smart as a whip. All the colour drains from his face.

“Steve,” he says. “You can't just—this isn't how we do things.”

“I'm older than you,” Steve returns. “I'm pulling rank for once, Henderson.” He's pinching the bridge of his nose harshly, still not looking at Dustin.

Dustin laughs. It’s an awful sound, his voice cracking with vulnerability. “Seriously? Fuck you.”

Eddie can’t stand it, feels like he’s intruding on something deeply private.

Steve sniffs, starts to head for the door.

“If—if you leave, I’m never speaking to you again,” Dustin says.

“Okay,” Steve says gently.

Dustin reels from the word as if struck. His eyes fill with furious tears. “I hate you.”

“Dustin,” Eddie says quietly, even though he knows that Dustin doesn’t mean it; it’s obvious that he doesn't mean it. It’s a tactic Eddie is all too familiar with: to say the most hurtful thing you can think of, just to make the other person lash out—because even if they’re angry with you, at least they’ve stayed.

Make sure Dustin doesn’t see, Steve had said. The reason is clear. Because Dustin’s eyes are full of something wild and desperate, like he would follow Steve anywhere.

I can't let that happen, Eddie realises. Steve’s almost at the doorway, and from here Eddie can see him angrily swipe a tear off his cheek, out of Dustin’s view. It would break him.

Steve turns, finally looks back. “It’s okay, Dustin,” he says, soft and kind. Kind until the end. “It's okay.”

And then he leaves.

“Eddie,” Dustin whispers. “Please.”

“I'm sorry,” Eddie says. It's all he can say. “Dustin, I’m so fucking sorry.”

It's torture, seeing the flash of hurt and betrayal across Dustin’s face. He storms out, catches Eddie's chest with his elbow.

Make sure Dustin doesn’t see.

Dustin might be fast, but Eddie is faster; at the foot of the stairs, he easily darts in front. With long, quick strides, he reaches the RV, sees that Nancy, Robin and Steve are already inside, and he locks the door, runs to the driver’s seat. Dustin is a second too late, pounding on the glass. Eddie has never heard someone scream like that before.

He glances behind as he reverses. Steve sits directly on the floor, his head in his hands; Robin is rubbing his back, murmuring something to him.

Eddie speeds away. His last sight of Dustin is in the wing mirror, trying to run after them, only stopping when it’s clearly hopeless.

“Fuck,” Steve whispers, and then he dry heaves.

“I've got water,” Robin says frantically. “Here, here, slow sips.”

There's a gentle hand on Eddie's shoulder. Nancy.

“Where...” Eddie clears his throat. “Where to, Wheeler?”

“Your trailer,” she says, and it sounds like something else again, like thank you and I'm sorry all at once.

He doesn’t talk for the whole drive there. The others keep up the conversation, Eddie straining to hear every noise Steve makes, inwardly pleading that he never falls silent. The plan is hastily amended: the extra alcohol Steve has brought means that they can split their supplies, leaving some for Vecna and some for deterring the bats and vines. He nods when Robin asks if there’s a tape deck in his room, which settles it: he will stay with Steve in the trailer, and… wait.

They don’t mention the word bait, but Eddie can hear it anyway.

Once he’s parked, Robin and Nancy get out first, carrying the drinks and weapons. When he gets out of his seat, he finds that Steve is still halfway to standing, swaying slightly, as if sea-sick.

“Woah, woah, hey,” Eddie says quickly, and he carefully pulls Steve up with one hand. Steve’s palm is damp with cold sweat, his pulse jumping rapidly in his neck, feverish. “Still with me?”

Steve’s eyes dart around before settling on Eddie.

What are you seeing? Eddie thinks, his own heart beating faster at the unknown he isn’t privy to. Let me in. Let me help.

But all Steve says is, “Get ready to duck out the way, man, feel like m’gonna throw up.”

Eddie squeezes his hand. “You’re good, I was kinda thinking my shirt should be a different colour.”

Steve wrinkles his nose, chuckles weakly. “Gross.”

He drops Eddie’s hand and climbs out of the RV. Eddie stays close, ready to catch him if he so much as stumbles.

In the trailer, Robin and Nancy wait by the makeshift rope. Steve’s posture straightens as they look at him, as if to say, See? Don’t worry about me.

“Give him hell, Nance,” he says.

Nancy nods. “See you when we get back,” she says, her tone firm. She catches Eddie’s eye, and the intent is clear: Look after him.

Eddie nods back. Always.

Robin’s lips are trembling; she’s trying to fight it, but it’s there all the same.

“Come on, Rob,” Steve says, through another one of his smiles, but his voice tightens, like he might break down if he’s shown an ounce of sympathy. And when he gives her a little wave, it’s like Eddie can see the routine of it, like Steve is simply bidding Robin goodbye after dropping her off somewhere. “See you soon.”

Robin doesn’t hug him, even though she’s clearly desperate to; must have noticed, just as Eddie did, that it would make this even harder still for Steve. Instead, she gives a joking little salute, like a sailor, and there must be something in that, because Steve lets out a choked laugh, and they all pretend that it doesn’t resemble a sob.

The girls climb the rope quickly, and by the time Eddie has turned back after having watched them leave, Steve has already headed for Eddie’s room, presumably looking for the tape deck.

But when Eddie hurriedly follows him, there’s no music playing, and Steve is sitting cross-legged on the floor.

“Don’t you want your music on for a bit?”

Steve shakes his head, then nods in the direction of the gate. “Wanna start the distraction as soon as possible,” he says, “give them the best shot.”

The distraction. Like he isn’t risking everything, like he’s just feigning a move on the goddamn basketball court.

“Okay,” Eddie says placatingly. He sits down opposite Steve, close enough that their knees bump. “Sorry, I should’ve vacuumed.”

Steve laughs, but it breaks off at the end. “Y-yeah, where’s the welcoming…” His voice fails and he sighs shakily. “Sorry, Eddie, I—I’m just. I’m really fucking scared.”

He sounds embarrassed. Eddie reaches for his hand, and Steve clings on in a tight grip, like he’s drowning.

“Jesus Christ, Steve, don’t be sorry. Don’t you dare.”

“That a threat, Munson?”

“You know what? Sure. Thought you could do with some more pressure.”

Steve gives a lovely, tender little smile. “Hey. Thanks. For… everything.”

Eddie shakes his head in disbelief. “Are you kidding? I haven’t fucking done anything. This is all you, Harrington.”

And Steve is laughing softly, really laughing, and he says, “Don’t bullshit—”

And his eyes roll back, the irises suddenly clouded over, and his hand becomes slack in Eddie’s grip.

Eddie has to force himself not to scream, not to jolt back; he thinks he might be sick, and the only thing stopping that outcome is the fact that Steve needs him. He barely counts to three inside his head, remembering Chrissy, how quick it all was, and he’s standing, tripping over his own feet.

“Right, I’m calling it,” he says, his chest tight, “long enough fucking distraction, they’ll already be at the—”

And he stops.

Because the tape deck doesn’t have anything inside. Because, next to it, is the plastic cassette case that was once in Steve’s pocket.

And it’s empty.

He pictures Steve back at his house, distractedly picking it up, focused on reassuring Dustin; Steve not realising his mistake until he had walked into Eddie’s bedroom and gone to put the tape in. Steve going ahead with it anyway, all while knowing…

“No,” Eddie breathes, “no, no, no.” He dives for the case, but the paper sleeve inside is worn beyond all recognition; he has no idea what the song could have been, even what album it came from. He grabs the closest tape he can find, ramming it in, and suddenly thinks Robin’s assessment of his music was more than accurate. Seriously, what is all this shit?

“Come on!” he shouts, and cranks the volume up as far as it will go.

When he turns back around, Steve is already floating.

Eddie can hardly hear over the roar of the music, but he feels the scream tear at his throat; he’s useless, he’s fucking useless, it’s Chrissy all over again—

One leg snaps. He screams again, screams Steve’s name. Then an arm begins to shake, to twist unnaturally at the elbow, and—

And Steve falls. Eddie lunges to catch him, and his heart both leaps and breaks at Steve’s cry of pain. You’re here, you’re here, you’re here.

“Steve, Steve, hey, hey, hey, try not to move,” he says, “you’re okay, you’re okay.”

Steve jerks, then vomits, the bile black with blood.

“All right, that’s fine,” Eddie babbles. “Just a little blood, you’re doing good, you’re—”

His hand brushes Steve’s side, comes away wet. The wounds on his stomach have reopened, as if something else has clawed at them.

“I can’t,” Steve gasps, “I can’t feel you.”

“I’m right here! Hey, Steve? Steve, look at me, I’m right—stop, stop, don’t move, you’re gonna be—”

“Eddie, I don’t want to go,” Steve says, and he’s sobbing, “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to—”

“You’re not dying. You’re not—Steve, Steve, just look at me, stay with me—”

But Steve just shakes in Eddie’s arms, and he throws up again, each breath coming in shallow, desperate gasps.

Fuck, he can’t breathe.

And then, it’s very quiet.

“Steve? Steve.”

Eddie looks down. Steve’s eyes are fixed, glassy. His chest is still.

The trailer splits. Jagged lines in both directions, one from the gate, one from Eddie’s room, burning red. Eddie runs out without consciously thinking about it, holding onto Steve, cradling his head.

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” The words are ripped out of his chest, his voice turned into something unrecognisable, so pained that it’s almost rendered inhuman.

He’s gone, Eddie thinks numbly.

His grip on the world fades, awareness only breaking through in fleeting impressions. Nancy and Robin’s faces. Screaming. Nancy saying, “Eddie, you have to let him go—”

He’s gone.

He comes back to himself in a crowded hospital corridor. Robin is reaching for him, and she’s crying, saying his name, but he moves away before she can touch him. He doesn’t deserve her kindness; Steve should be standing here, should be falling into her embrace—

He’s gone.

And then, he’s in a bathroom, thrusting his hands under scorching water. Red and black stains the sink. Blood. Steve’s blood.

The door bangs open. Dustin is standing before him. There are several cuts on his face, and he’s gasping and clutching his side like he ran all the way here. Maybe he did.

“Eddie,” he says, and it’s in that tone, the one Eddie heard when he was trembling in the boathouse, the one that shocked him to his core. Because it sounded like, Yeah, I’m the younger one, so what? I’m still going to protect you.

In hearing that, Eddie knows that he has already been forgiven. Because Dustin’s love is like what Steve’s had been: fierce and unconditional.

Eddie tries to take a breath—it comes out in a ragged, wet exhale. “I-I’m sorry, I couldn’t—I tried—”

And then words fail him completely. He can’t stop the tears once they’ve started; and there, chest heaving with grief, he falls apart in Dustin Henderson’s arms.

#the self sacrificial steve agenda #steddie fic #steddie #steddie ficlet #steve x eddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #dustin henderson #steve and dustin #eddie and dustin

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worth-the-chaos · 2 months

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Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 15

Chapter Summary: Racing against the clock, you and your friends desperately attempt to connect the dots before it’s too late. Your efforts bring both progress and peril as you and your boyfriend dive headfirst into life-threatening scenarios in order to save each other.

Content Warning: swearing, trauma, angst, upside down scary shit

Word Count: 8.8k

Author’s Note: sorry this chapter took so long for me to get written. Life has been crazy, but here’s a longer one for you, so I hope you enjoy! I really enjoyed writing this one and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much!

Message me to be added to the taglist and get updated when the next chapter is posted! I highly recommend this if you want to keep up with the story since I don’t do regular updates!

ALSO, I am thinking about revamping the masterlist for this story and adding chapter summaries and word count…let me know if you think this would help!

Series Masterlist | Part 14 | Next Part

***

You all got out of your respective vehicles and looked at the dilapidated house in front of you. The lawn was overgrown with weeds, and every window was boarded up. The house’s facade itself screamed “go away,” looking like something out of a horror movie, but there you all were. You pressed yourself into Steve’s back, grabbing onto the back of his jacket to ground yourself. No one moved, everyone hesitant to approach the foreboding home, so you took one more deep breath and pushed past your boyfriend.

Steve was surprised by the confidence in your stride. He knew that you were cracking under the pressure. He knew you had to be scared out of your mind. Yet, you were facing it head on. He watched the way you tossed the hammer you were holding a bit before flipping it around and beginning to remove the nails from the board across the front door. Though he would never say it out loud, the way you looked so incredibly tough was incredibly sexy to him, and his eyes wandered your frame as he took in the sight of you.

Suddenly Steve felt an elbow in his side, jumping a bit as Robin glared at him and whispered, “dude, why don’t you stop undressing her with your eyes and help the fuck out.”

“What the hell are we supposed to be looking for in this shit hole anyway?” Steve grumbled as he made his way to the door to start removing nails on the opposite side.

“I don’t know…I-I just know it’s important,” you responded, momentarily stopping what you were doing to look at your boyfriend. You didn’t want to explain any more of what you saw and Steve didn’t press you for details as he continued removing nails.

“Maybe it has a clue as to where Vecna is,” Dustin spoke up, “you know, like why he’s back, why he killed the Creels, and how to stop him before he comes back for y/n.”

Your heart sank at the mention of your name. You weren’t sure that you’d be able to save yourself again if Vecna came back for you. The visions you were having were getting progressively longer, and your physical symptoms in the real world were getting progressively more terrifying. How long was it going to be before your bones were snapped every which way and your eyes were sucked into the back of your skull?

Steve removed the last nail and he looked at you, silently asking if you were ready. Though you weren’t, you nodded and the both of you dropped the board. It fell with a sickening thud, kicking up decades worth of dust up from the front porch. You coughed, waving away the haze before turning back to the front door. You saw the stained glass rose and suddenly your mind flashed to the sinister reds painted across the sky when Vecna had his hand around your throat.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nancy asked, gently putting a hand on your shoulder. You jumped a little, before turning slightly towards her, meeting her concerned expression.

“Yeah…yeah, I-I’m good. This is definitely it; no doubt about it,” your voice got small as you said it.

Steve tried the doorknob which didn’t turn, announcing the obvious, “it’s locked. Should I knock? See if anybody’s home?”

You rolled your eyes at Steve’s sarcasm before moving towards him. “It doesn’t matter. I have a key.” Steve looked at you quizzically, but before he could ask any questions, you shoved him to the side a bit before aggressively driving your elbow through the stained glass. It made a satisfying shattering sound as you listened to the shards hit the floor inside. You reached through the window and felt for the lock, turning it swiftly before shoving the door open.

Lucas flipped a light switch to no avail. “I guess somebody didn’t pay the electric bill,” he joked quietly as the room remained shrouded in complete darkness. The only light was the minimal sunlight peaking through the slats of the boarded up windows.

You pulled a flashlight out of your bag and handed it to Steve, knowing full and well that he didn’t bring his own, before you pulled out a second one for yourself.

“They just left everything,” Nancy breathed out, pointing her flashlight into the family room.

“Yeah, I guess a triple homicide isn’t good for resale value,” Robin responded. You barely heard her as your eyes remained fixed on the sight in front of you. You had to readjust your grip on your flashlight as you willed your hands not to shake.

“Guys, you see that too, right?” You asked quietly, the beam of your flashlight unsteadily illuminating the familiar grandfather clock in front of you.

“Yeah, we do,” Steve assured you, wrapping a hand around your shoulder and pulling you into his side. He could tell you were scared, and wanted to do everything in his power to comfort you. He couldn’t really imagine what it must be like to not be able to trust anything that you were seeing. His heart broke at the way he could see the fear in your eyes. His picture of you in his mind was always so fearless and stoic. You were always prepared to face any threat, regardless of whether or not it was supernatural.

This time was different though. This time they were racing to postpone the inevitable. It felt like a jack in the box, every attempt to investigate being another crank of the handle. He didn’t want to know what was going to happen when they pushed too far.

“Is this what you saw in your visions?” Max asked you gently. You turned to look at the girl and saw how she stared up at you with a furrowed brow, her worry painted across her face. Your expression faltered for a second before you regained your composure, readopting the stoic facade you tried to maintain; putting on a brave face for the kids.

Robin could sense your anxiety; in fact, it was radiating off of you like crazy. She was your best friend and she could read you like the back of her hand. “I mean…it’s just a clock, right?” She spoke up, trying to sound reassuring. She stepped past you and wiped the dust of the clock’s face, turning back towards you before adding, “just a normal old clock.”

“Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Maybe he’s like a clockmaker…or something?” Steve spoke up, and honestly it kind of broke the tension as you bit back a giggle. Steve was smart in so many ways, but in this moment, you were glad your survival was not up to your boyfriend being able to problem solve.

“I think you cracked the case, Steve,” Dustin replied sarcastically. You glared at him before elbowing him in the side. Steve was doing his best and you didn’t need the Henderson boy making him feel bad about it. Hell, you were going to take all of the help you could get…even if it was borderline idiotic.

“All I know is the answers are here…somewhere,” you added quietly, looking around the dust covered room. The longer you stayed there, the more unsettled you felt. You shook your head to clear the negativity from your mind before speaking up again. “Okay, let’s just split off.”

Robin nodded and quickly followed Nancy upstairs, and Lucas and Max darted off to the kitchen, begrudgingly followed by Henderson. The boy had wanted to stay with the two of you, but the look that Steve had shot him was clear in letting him know not to push it.

“So, I guess it’s you and me,” Steve spoke up, reaching to gently grab your hand. You jumped a bit at his touch and he immediately backed off, “sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

“No, it’s…it’s fine. It’s not you, it’s me. I-I just need to get my head on straight is all,” you quickly responded, your hand darting to grab his. You interlocked your fingers and placed a gentle kiss to the back of his hand, shooting him a weak smile. He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t argue either.

You both entered some sort of family room, your flashlights sending light beams to scatter through the dust particles swimming through the air. You let go of his hand as you both spread out around the room to reach high and low for anything that might point you in the right direction. Though, you weren’t entirely sure what the right direction even was.

Steve was trying not to lose his mind. All he could think about was the way you had looked when you had gone into a trance at the cemetery. It was like you weren’t even there anymore. For a brief moment, he experienced what the world was like without you in it and he was sure that he couldn’t stand to live another moment like that. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure you were still there; that you were still in his sight. You were blowing a thick layer of dust off of the mantle of the fireplace, backing up and waving a hand through the air as you coughed.

Steve sucked in a deep breath and then turned back around, though it was hard for him to take his eyes off of him. You could go into another trance at any moment. He would never forgive himself if something happened to you. He redirected his gaze to his flashlight beam, noticing the way the light reflected off of something underneath a floor vent. He moved the vent out of the way, reaching in and pulling out a jar with the body of a dead spider in it.

Suddenly he felt movement on his jacket, looking over to see a spider crawling up his arm. Fear settled deep within his chest as he stood up, dropping the jar in the process and frantically backing away as he tried to get the damn thing off of him. He was embarrassed to admit it, but even Steve “the Hair” Harrington was afraid of spiders. He bumped into something (or more accurately, someone) barely noticing it was you until your voice rang out.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?” You frantically asked, your heart pounding in your chest. You had heard the distinct sound of shattering glass and immediately started assuming the worst. You attempted to steady your boyfriend, your hands reaching for his arms, but he yanked them out of your grip, clearly still reeling from whatever encounter he just had. “Please, Steve; tell me what’s wrong!”

Your face was twisted with worry as your eyes scanned your boyfriend. He was still breathing heavily, but he was beginning to calm down. He brushed his hands down his arms, just to make sure, before pulling you into a bear hug as he rested his chin on the top of your head.

“There was a spider,” he breathed out, “black widow I think.”

He added the last part as he placed a kiss to the top of your head, squeezing you a little bit tighter. Your heart skipped a beat and you bit back a smile at how goofy Steve was sometimes. Even though he tried to be the tough guy, it was nice to know that he got scared of dumbass shit too.

“Poor baby,” you patronized, pulling away slightly to look up at him. Steve was going to stand up for himself but his words died in his throat as he just admired the way your eyes shined up at him. Recently, he hadn’t seen the light in your eyes. Even before these Vecna visions, you hadn’t been the same since what happened at Starcourt.

“Everything okay over here?” Robin’s voice rang out as she began to round the corner. The two of you quickly stepped away from each other, and Steve cleared his throat as you attempted to act natural.

Robin stopped in her tracks and glared at you, watching as you attempted to innocently shake out your hair, trying and failing miserably to pretend that you hadn’t just been pressed up against her best friend.

“Oh would you two just fuck already?” She rolled her eyes as she continued through the room, brushing past Steve on her way out. Your face immediately turned beet red and your mouth fell open, a small squeak escaping your lips as you tried and failed to defend yourself.

Steve’s face was equally red, but he chuckled as he tried to brush Robin’s comment off. He thought back to how the past him would have immediately corrected Robin; bragged about how he had in fact already slept with you. You would have been another notch on his belt, another conquest to tell Tommy H. about in the cafeteria. He was glad that he wasn’t that person anymore.

Besides, he felt somewhat self conscious about it. He knew that it had been your first time, which made it all the more nerve wracking…especially since you both hadn’t really talked about it since then. Sure, Nancy and him had slept together, and he had thought he had loved her, but since meeting you he wasn’t so sure that he really had. This—what he had with you? That was love, plain and simple. He’d never experienced anything quite like it.

He had to stop his mind from thinking about the way you had looked underneath him. The way your bare skin felt against his as he finally got to see all of you. He had to stop himself from thinking about the sounds you made, how reactive you were to his touch.

He cleared his throat, throwing an arm around your waist, feeling the need to be touching you in some capacity. He squeezed your hip a bit and smiled down at you, as the two of you shared a knowing look. He bent down to tell you something and you tried not to go weak at the knees at his warm breath whispered in your ear.

“I’m not sure about ‘already,’ but I could definitely go for ‘again.’” You could see his smirk in your mind’s eye as your breath hitched in your throat. Before you could even think about how to respond, Steve spoke up again. “Well, I guess we should get back to investigating.”

He let go of you and sauntered forward, confidence in his stride at how he’d so easily gotten a reaction out of you. You stood there for a second, staring at him in complete disbelief before biting back a smile and hustling to rejoin him. You only made it a few paces before you stopped dead in your tracks, your sneakers squeaking against the hardwood floor.

Steve whipped around to see you staring wide eyed at a lamp on the table next to you, sparking to life with erratic electricity. His heart jumped to his throat, and when you opened your mouth to speak, he wasn’t sure if the fact that your voice sounded so calm and collected made it more or less terrifying.

“I promise I’ll stop asking, but you see that too, right?”

“Yeah…yeah, I do,” Steve spoke up, fishing through his jacket pocket frantically before pulling out the walkman and headphones. He gingerly placed them over your head, hitting play on the device. You jumped at the contact, eyes previously still drawn to the flickering light at the lamp. You looked up at him confused as your hands went to the headphones on your ears. “Just in case,” Steve added in a whisper, struggling to speak past the lump in his throat.

He went to quickly turn away from you, not wanting you to see him cracking under the weight of the situation, but you quickly grabbed onto his jacket sleeve to catch his attention. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay, yeah?” You tried your best to reassure him, trying to believe the words yourself. You wanted nothing more than for them to be true.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything’s gonna be alright,” Steve agreed, but you could tell he believed it about as much as you did…which was barely at all. Normally these sort of sentiments would be followed by a pinky promise, but neither of you reached for each other’s hand as you continued to stare at the lamp humming with electricity.

Slowly but surely, you reached one of your trembling hands towards the lamp shade. As you got closer, the light intensified before flickering out altogether as soon as you made contact, plunging the room back into darkness. You could hear Steve suck in a breath and you felt his hand on the small of your back.

“Look,” Steve whispered, pointing to another lamp down the hall that had come to life with electricity. With much trepidation, you began to move towards the light source. No sooner had you started moving, did it jump to another lamp….and then another and another.

You continued to follow, but you quickly felt a force pulling you backwards as Steve’s fingers looped through the belt loops of your jeans. “Hey!” You called out, your brows stitched together in frustration as your attention was pulled away from the task at hand. “Let go of me, Steve,” you warned, your hand attempting to pry his away, but to no avail.

“Y/n, what if it’s a trap?” You could hear the fear in his voice and you saw the way it was reflected in his eyes. You two had been through hell together and lived to tell the tale. You had seen him scared all the damn time but never like this. This time your life was on the line much more directly than it had in the past. This time a miss step meant you’d be gone.

“Steve, we’re here to look for clues, so I’m looking for clues. End of discussion,” you yanked his hand away and attempted to continue down the hallway, but he caught your arm first, pulling you back again.

“Steve—“ you began again, but the rest of your sentence died in your throat as he wrapped his arms around you, his head buried in the crook of your neck as he hugged you. He held onto you as if he might never get to hold onto you again and you couldn’t help but feel tears well in your eyes as you hugged him back. He placed a tender kiss to your neck.

“I love you,” he whispered into your skin. He stayed like that for a little longer before pulling away and looking you in the eye adding, “I need you to know that y/n.”

“I know, Steve,” a tear rolled down your cheek, “I love you too. More than anything.” Your voice was a whisper, the emotion behind your words nearly rendering you speechless. You held onto each other for a few more moments before letting go and turning to follow the light.

***

Night had fallen and the seven of you stood under a cobweb chandelier, blinking haphazardly above a dining room table. You felt uneasy as you watched each bulb flicker, your hand instinctively going to grab Steve’s for comfort. He immediately reciprocated, giving your hand a tight squeeze and sending a reassuring smile your way.

“It’s like the Christmas lights,” Nancy spoke up, her eyes glued to the light fixture above you. Your mind flashed back to the Byers’ living room and the gashes now permanently etched across your arm. That was the first time you and Steve had faced threats like this together, back when you didn’t even really know each other outside of reputation.

Steve’s mind thought back to that time too, his hand letting go of yours and moving to rub up and down your upper arm. By now he had each scar perfectly memorized. He used to trace them with his fingers when you were asleep beside him as a reminder that you were still here; as a promise that he would protect you better. He felt a pang in his chest as he was painfully reminded of how he couldn’t keep that promise.

“Vecna’s here,” you spoke up, “in this house, just on the other side.

The light slowly fizzled out, nothing left but the long shadows cast by the beams of your flashlights. “I think he just left the room,” Robin spoke up, her eyes still glued to the chandelier.

“Did he hear us?” Max asked, her eyes widening with fear as she considered the possibility that Vecna may be able to discern their next move from the Upside Down.

“Can he see us?” Dustin asked further. You and Steve locked eyes before he quickly spoke up.

“Headphones!”

You abided by his instructions and quickly hit play on the walkman. “Everyone turn off your flashlights and spread out,” you added, darting away from Steve before he could protest. Everyone followed suit (though Steve did so much more begrudgingly).

You hated the way it felt being alone though. You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you were, considering the amount of time you spent sleeping over at Steve’s while his parents were traveling the world on various business trips. Your hands trembled as you waved your flashlight every which way, attempting to maybe, just maybe, pick up Vecna’s movements through the Upside Down.

All the sudden, Robin’s voice rang out through the deafening silence of the Creel house. “Got him!”

Before you could even think, your feet were taking off towards the sound of her voice. You stopped in your tracks, your breath catching in your throat as you saw the way the light hummed from her flashlight. As soon as it had started though, the light fizzled out. She made a sound of annoyance, but it didn’t last long as your flashlight suddenly sparked to life. The light jumped once more to Steve’s flashlight, and this time you were all ready.

“He’s moving! He’s moving!” Steve shouted, moving his flashlight in front of him as he followed, trying to maintain the gentle yet unsettling stream of light radiating into the empty house. You followed closely behind him, a hand loosely grabbing hold of the fabric at the bottom hem of his jacket as you tried your best to keep up with him. You ascended a staircase and once Steve reached the top, the light dissipated, leaving you all in the dark once more.

“You lost it,” you whispered, staring at the flashlight, disappointment settling into your chest as you attempted to shove it down so it wouldn’t turn into panic.

“No he didn’t,” Max spoke up, shoving past the two of you and opening a door that led to another corridor bustling with light and electricity. You all cautiously made your way up the stairs into the attic, anxiety settling in your bones. Steve instinctively wrapped his hand around your wrist for reassurance, needing a reminder that you were there.

A single light bulb thrummed with electricity, pulsing rhythmically and casting eerie shadows across the dilapidated floor. You took a cautious step towards it, and suddenly your flashlight began flickering, the beam growing stronger the closer you got. Steve’s light did the same until all of you were standing under the singular bulb, each of your flashlights synchronizing to the flicker of the attic light.

“What’s happening?” Steve whispered, eyes glued to the light above you. You had no words to answer his question, staring just as mesmerized as he was. This house likely hadn’t had electricity in the last thirty years. Thirty years! You had to remind yourself of the impossibility of it all, and you wished it was just a dream that you would wake up from, curled up in Steve’s arms.

Without warning, the light grew to a blinding intensity, and suddenly the bulbs in each of your flashlights began to burst, shattering as the light abruptly disappeared. You shrieked as you attempted to shield your eyes from the shards.

The room was plunged into a nearly pitch black darkness, the only light being the soft moonlight filtering in through the slats on the boarded up windows.

“Is everyone okay?” Nancy called out, looking over Max to check for any cuts. Robin helped her check over the other two kids while Steve turned to you.

“Hey, you’re bleeding,” his hands darted to your face, wiping blood away from a tiny cut on your cheek. His eyebrows knitted together with worry.

“Nothing a little band aid won’t fix,” you reassured him, pulling him into a hug. His hands wrapped around your waist and you felt comforted by the way they felt at the small of your back.

You thought back to the way the lights shattered as the cut on your cheek began to sting again. You felt a sinking feeling in your stomach, but you shoved it down and held onto Steve tighter.

You tried to convince yourself that this was progress. You knew something more now. What that something was, you weren’t sure. It seemed to be that you kept finding puzzle pieces but they were all impossible to connect. It was all just a big jumble.

You weren’t sure you were going to like it when the picture cleared.

***

You sat in the back of Nancy’s station wagon eating Pringles with Steve as you drove back towards Rick’s house to let Eddie know what you had found out. Robin was in the front seat rambling, clearly stressed about all that you did and didn’t know, but all chatter halted when Nancy turned the corner and noticed the crowd surrounding the lake house.

“Shit,” you whispered as you quickly yanked the trunk door open, flying out of the back seat with Steve hot on your tail as the car barely slowed to a stop. You ducked around the news van to tune into what the police officers were saying.

“….reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself were the first on the scene. We found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney, on the shore of Lover’s Lake. His limbs were…” you heard Chief Powell’s voice, but it faded out as your ears started to ring.

You stumbled backwards, needing room to breathe, shoving past all of your friends and walking down the street away from the yellow crime scene tape and the nightmares and the terror that just wouldn’t seem to stop despite how hard you tried to have a normal life.

“We’ve also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson,” Chief Powell held up a picture of the boy to show the news camera. “We encourage anyone with information to please come forward.”

Steve immediately followed you, a sinking feeling in his chest as he ran towards you. “Y/n….y/n!” He whisper-shouted, trying to get your attention without drawing attention to you.

You didn’t react, continuing marching forward, so Steve jogged to catch up to you, grabbing onto your wrist and spinning you around to face him. His frustration over you ignoring him quickly disappeared when he noticed your tear stained cheeks and the blood trickling from your nose.

“Steve,” you breathed out, your voice dripping with sorrow, “I think I’m next.”

“Woah, woah, woah, baby, don’t say that….th-that’s not true, we don’t know that,” Steve was quick to try to comfort you, swiftly wiping at your nose with his jacket sleeve, his heart breaking as you broke out into a sob.

“We don’t know that! W-we don’t know anything! For all we know, I could go into another fucking trance right now and just like that—“ you snapped your fingers, “I’m gone.”

“Don’t fucking talk like that, y/n! I…I-I mean we found out the music thing! We’ve bought some time! You’re going to be okay, y/n, I promise, we-we just have to—“

“But how do you know that? How can you promise me that?” You cried.

“Because you have to be, okay? You just have to be,” Steve’s voice was full of fear and unshed tears and it just made yours fall faster down your face as you allowed yourself to break. The rest of the group cautiously made their way towards you as you gathered some of your composure. Suddenly, the walkie talkie sprung to life in your pocket.

“Dustin? Wheeler? Can you hear me?” Eddie’s voice crackled out of the speaker.

“Eddie! Holy shit, are you okay?” You asked, your brow furrowed with worry as you waited on bated breath for his response.

“Nah, man. Pretty….pretty goddamn far from okay.”

You could hear his exhaustion through his voice and your heart broke a little. “Where are you?” You inquired.

“Skull Rock. You know it? It’s by—”

“Yeah, I know where it is. Just hold on, okay?” Your face flushed as you thought back to the times that Steve had taken you there, but now was not the time to think about those kisses that you’d shared.

Right now it was you guys against the town, and you were damned if you were going to let them find Eddie first.

***

“Dude, you’re taking us the wrong way,” Steve complained at Dustin who was religiously following his map and compass.

“It’s north. I’m positive; I checked the map,” Dustin replied, irritation lacing his tone. You rolled your eyes at their bickering, but felt the need to speak up yourself.

“Normally I wouldn’t trust Steve’s judgment on something like this considering he bases 90% of shit like this on a hunch, but this time he’s right.”

Steve didn’t know whether to feel flattered or offended, but it didn’t matter, as he spoke up to defend himself. “Yeah Henderson, you do realize Skill Rock is like a super popular make-out spot?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t popular until I made it popular, alright? I practically invented it; we’re heading in the wrong direction,” Steve turned away from where Dustin was heading and you began to follow him. Dustin looked at you both in shock before shouting back at Steve.

“Yeah? Well just because you’ve stuck your tongue down y/n’s throat there doesn’t mean that your sense of direction is better than a goddamn compass.”

You gaped at the Henderson boy, and your glare must have shut him up because he quickly tried to back pedal his way out of it. “Woah, um that was my bad; I think I perhaps took it a little bit too far.”

“You think?” You rolled your eyes and continued on next to Steve.

“I mean, he’s not wrong…well, he definitely is about the damn compass, but we have had some pretty good times at Skull Rock,” Steve whispered to you with a smirk plastered across his face.

“Sure, whatever,” you rolled your eyes again. At the rate these boys were going, you were sure that they would roll out of your head before Vecna could suck them into the back of your skull. You immediately went nauseous at the thought.

“What do you mean ‘whatever?’ Come on, you’re telling me you don’t think about that time you skipped third period last semester?” Steve shot you a knowing look.

“Shut up,” you responded as your face went red.

“See! I know you too damn well, baby. Besides, I think about it all the fucking time so if you don’t that would be kind of embarrassing for me.”

“You think about it all the time?” You looked at him annoyed, not believing a word that was coming out of your perfect jock boyfriend’s mouth.

“I mean, yeah! Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why would you though?”

Steve paused for a second, contemplating how much he should say before he continued. He flushed a little and decided that there wasn’t much point in keeping secrets, especially since your time together may be more limited than he had thought.

“Well, I mean….okay, sometimes I think about the fact that you spend seven hours in that damn school everyday with guys that undoubtedly want to hook up with you, and-and I’m not there anymore to keep those assholes in line, you know?” Steve started and you stared at him in disbelief before he continued, “But!—but then I think about how fucking stupid that is of me and I don’t want to be one of those disgustingly possessive toxic boyfriends, so to keep myself in check I think about that time you skipped third period so that we could make out instead…and-and it calms me down a little…because if I keep kissing you like that then I would hope you wouldn’t be tempted by any of those dumbasses at Hawkins High.”

You began cackling and Steve turned beet red. “Hey! I’m pouring my heart and soul out to you here, you little shit! You don’t get to laugh!”

“No, you’re right; I’m sorry,” you giggled as you wrapped an arm around his and leaned into him. “It’s just…you’re you.”

“—and?”

“And—if either of us was going to be worried, it should be me,” you argued with a chuckle, “I mean, I spent so much time watching you flirt with other girls right in front of me when we worked at Scoops!”

“That was stupid of me, I don’t know why I did that,” Steve shook his head and looked down at his feet, a bit disappointed in his past behavior. “I was honestly just so in love with you at the time and it scared the shit out of me—it still scares the shit out of me, by the way—that I thought an appropriate solution would be to find someone that didn’t scare me so that I wouldn’t fuck it up and lose you, you know?”

“You’re not gonna lose me,” you nudged him in the side and smiled up at him, a silent gesture that you forgave him for his past mistakes. “I’m in it for the long haul, alright?”

Steve smiled back at you and shook his head. You were just so perfect.

“Besides,” you spoke up again before adding the rest in a whisper, “I think about that time during third period all the time too.” And with that you sauntered ahead of him, your hips swaying back and forth, in a way that had Steve thinking…well, about that third period.

You shoved forward through some overgrowth to a clearing to see the one and only Skull Rock. Steve pushed through shortly after you and you could see the self-satisfied smirk stretch across his face.

“Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face,” Steve shouted out, and you smacked his arm with the back of your hand. You had only ever officially been Dustin’s babysitter, but sometimes it really did feel like you were babysitting Steve too.

“Cool it, Harrington,” you warned.

“But it doesn’t make sense,” Dustin stared at the boulders confused, and suddenly you got a sinking sort of feeling in your stomach.

“Yeah, yeah, even with it staring you in the face, you can’t admit it. You just can’t admit that you’re wrong, you little butthead,” Steve retorted. Suddenly, you heard something behind you, and you quickly turned on your heels as you heard the familiar voice ring out.

“I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead.”

“We thought you were a goner,” Dustin quickly hugged Eddie, relieved to see that he was okay given the police cars and news vans that had infiltrated his hiding spot.

“Yeah, me too…me too,” Eddie replied, patting the boy on the back before letting him go. “Teach, glad you could make it, sorry about the…you know,” Eddie gestured to his neck, apologizing for the small cut that he had left on yours.

“No apologies necessary. We’re just glad that you’re okay,” you replied, pulling Eddie in for a hug as well. You hated that he was involved in all of this shit. You hated how you always managed to bring more people into this mess; that it grew and spread like weeds in a garden.

Eddie explained what had happened with Patrick, and your heart sank at the fact that he had to experience all that trauma all over again. “…and when I got to shore, I tried to call you guys but my walkie was busted, so, uh, I did the thing that I do now apparently: I ran,” He chuckled exasperatedly.

“Do you know what time this was exactly?” Nancy inquired.

“Yeah, no, I…I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn’t the only thing that got soaked,” Eddie replied, taking off his watch and tossing it to Nancy.

“9:27,” she read the time out.

“Same time our flashlights when kablooey,” Robin added the proper context.

“Which means what, exactly?” Steve asked.

“That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick,” Nancy explained.

“Well, we’re one step closer. At least we know how Vecna attacks,” you tried to be optimistic, but it didn’t really feel like much of a win.

“And where he attacks from,” Lucas spoke up.

“So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart,” Max emphasized. All jokes aside, it sounded simple when she said it, though you knew that wouldn’t be the case.

“A stake? Is he like a vamp—is he a vampire?” Steve asked.

“It was a metaphor, sweetheart,” you replied. Oh how that boy was great at not catching on.

“A bullet should work on him, right?” Eddie asked.

“I say we chop his head off,” Lucas suggested.

“Hey, uh, Henderson’s not, uh, cursed…is he?” Eddie pointed and you all turned to see the boy pacing back and forth.

“Cursed? No, no, no, he’s fine. Mental? Absolutely,” Steve answered.

“Boom!” The boy suddenly shouted into the wilderness, “I was right! Skull Rock was north.”

“Seriously? Are you serious? This is Skull Rock!” Steve shouted back. That sinking feeling in your stomach returned as you took a deep breath awaiting Dustin’s explanation.

“This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers’. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now, it’s way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn’t wrong; the compass was. Do you remember what can affect a compass?”

“An electromagnetic field,” Lucas answered as his eyes lit up, beginning to connect the dots.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve skipped that class,” Robin spoke up, requesting an explanation.

“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power,” you began and Steve looked at you incredulously. You shrugged as Dustin continued.

“So, there’s either some super big magnet around here, or there’s a gate.”

“But we’re no where near the lab,” Nancy pointed out.

“But what if, somehow, there’s another gate? A gate that we don’t know about. It would have to be smaller, way less powerful,” Dustin proposed.

“A snack sized gate,” Robin contextualized.

“But how? Why?” Steve asked the hard questions.

“I don’t know. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance and the last time we saw anything like it, there was a gate. And if there is a gate that means we can get to Vecna and we have a shot at freeing y/n from this curse,” Dustin explained and then turned, his eyes glued back to the faulty compass.

“Hey, woah, woah, woah,” Steve spoke up, a hand on his hip and giving peak paternal vibes, “Eddie’s still a wanted man. We can’t just go on a hike in the woods.”

“This compass might be the key to saving Eddie and y/n. What say you, Eddie the Banished?” Dustin replied.

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I’m totally straight with you, I think it’s a really bad idea…but uh, the Shire…the Shire is burning,” Eddie replied and Dustin began to jump up and down in excitement. You rolled your eyes and chuckled at Steve’s confused expression.

“So Mordor it is,” you added as Eddie hopped up to follow Dustin, the rest of the gang following suit.

“What is Mordor?” Steve asked quietly.

“Oh, baby,” you replied pitifully as you placed a hand on his back and led him to follow the others.

***

Night had fallen and you were still walking through the woods following the damn compass. Your feet were getting tired and if one more low branch hit you in the face you were pretty sure you were going to scream.

Robin and Steve were arguing over the plot of the movie they had watched at your last shift together and you fell into step with Eddie.

“So, I take it when I saw you all beat up in the movie theater last summer, it was related to all of this shit, right?” Eddie inquired.

“I mean yeah…well, kind of,” you replied, your face scrunching up in thought as you considered how you would have contextualized those specific injuries.

“What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

“Well, it was related to all of this supernatural bullshit, but not quite supernatural. Long story short, I got the shit beat out of me by a bunch of Russians who were secretly in Hawkins trying to reopen the gate to the Upside Down,” you explained. Eddie stared at you for a second, not really sure how to respond.

“So…you did all of that…and then just came back to school, like it was nothing? Started tutoring me in physics?”

“I mean, it was the third time some crazy ass shit had happened, so I guess afterwards all there is to do is to try and return to some form of normalcy. What else were we supposed to do?” You asked rhetorically. “Also, Steve and I started dating which made things a lot easier. You know, just having someone to rely on like that and all.”

It felt natural confiding in Eddie. He never judged you and you never judged him. He felt like the type of person that would be in your corner despite your ups and downs and you appreciated that tutoring him had given you the opportunity to see that side of him.

“Bullshit. You had to have been dating Steve last school year. Like before the mall fire. You two were all over each other after him and Nancy broke up; you were practically together all of the time!”

“It was…complicated before last summer,” you chose your words carefully. “I don’t think we knew how to tell each other how we felt, you know? I mean, we had already watched the world nearly end twice at that point, and the thought of ruining our friendship to pursue a relationship that might not work out was scary then. Looking back it was stupid of us, but we’re together now and that’s all that matters.”

“You think he’s the one?” Eddie asked and your face went bright red. You hadn’t really thought about it, but then again, you hadn’t really needed to because you already knew.

“Yeah…yeah, I think he is,” you smiled, your eyes focused on Steve’s back, watching how he laughed at something Robin had said. “Don’t fucking tell him I said that though or I’ll kill you myself,” you threatened.

“Surely he has to already know,” Eddie argued. You felt your insecurity festering in your chest. Sometimes you still couldn’t believe that he loved you. You weren’t the kind of girl he would have paid any attention to in the past and sometimes that thought ate away at you. You knew that he was it for you, but sometimes you doubted whether or not you were it for him. You hoped with all of your heart that you were.

You shrugged, “I don’t know. I mean, I’m probably going away to college next year and I don’t really know how we’ll make it through that. I don’t want him to have to wait for me, you know?”

“Oh, he’s waiting for you, honey. Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” Eddie chuckled, speaking as if the idea was absurd. You felt a weight fall off of your shoulders as he said it. You bit back a smile as the two of you quickened your pace to rejoin the rest of the group.

“Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?” Steve called out as he attempted to follow the all-too-energetic boy.

“I think we’re getting close!” Dustin called out as he turned over his shoulder as you all entered a clearing, and you quickly pushed past Steve, grabbing the back of the boy’s collar just in time to keep him from stepping right into the lake.

“Woah, cool it alright?” You warned, your babysitting instincts still prepped and ready for action.

“You gotta be shitting me,” Steve breathed out. You were right back where you started. Lover’s Lake.

“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?” Max asked, trying to sort out the pieces of the puzzle in her head.

“Whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna’s the same way,” Nancy suggested.

“Only one way to find out,” Steve spoke up. You all wandered the shore of Lover’s Lake until you found a boat. Steve held it steady as Robin, Nancy, Eddie, and you piled on. You had come prepared, again all thanks to the babysitting, and had the walkman and headphones safe in a ziplock bag to avoid them getting damaged from the water.

Dustin attempted to board the boat, but Eddie swiftly stopped him. “Woah, woah, woah. You trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?”

“It’s better this way. If we all disappear, people are going to get suspicious,” Nancy argued.

“It’s my goddamn theory!”

“You heard Nance,” Robin warned.

“Who put her in charge?!” The boy asked in exasperation.

“I did,” Robin replied simply.

“Compass,” you held out your hand and Dustin begrudgingly gave it to you.

Steve pushed the boat off the shore, boarding it as it started to float away. “You said four!” Dustin shouted, angry at the way he’d been conned.

“Sorry,” Steve offered as the boat continued on. He threw an arm around you and hugged you to his side. He was nervous about the fact that you weren’t on the shore with the kids, but he knew that you would find a way out on the lake one way or another so he didn’t really feel like fighting the inevitable…even though you all were quite literally fighting the inevitable.

You thought about how this would be fun in any other context. Just you, three of your close friends, and your boyfriend, out on the lake at night. You thought about the way you would all probably crack jokes and share stories, passing the time away until it was way later than you realized. You wished that could be your reality, and you swallowed the lump in your throat as you accepted that it wasn’t.

The compass jumped to life in your hands, the needle spinning every which direction. “Woah, woah, woah! Slow down guys!” You called out, eyes glued to the small device in your hand.

“Woah,” Steve breathed out as you stopped to watch the compass needle spin. It was a mesmerizing sight, and your hands slightly shook as you watched it. Steve noticed and quickly grabbed your other hand, running his thumb over the back of it to calm you down.

“Guys what’s going on?” Dustin’s voice crackled through the walkie talkie. Robin quickly attended to it.

“Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital ‘ahhh!’” You barely paid any attention to her words, more preoccupied with the way Steve began quickly removing his shoes.

“Steve, what are you doing?” You were quick to question, though you already knew the answer. Your heart stopped in your chest and you felt like you could barely breathe anymore.

“Somebody’s gotta go down there and check this out. And unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then…it’s gotta be me. No complaints, alright?” He made eye contact with you as he said the last part. You gaped at him, struggling to find the words to voice your very obvious complaint.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Eddie spoke up, “I do not want to go down there.”

Eddie wrapped his flashlight in a plastic bag and handed it to your boyfriend, and suddenly you were at a loss for words at the only other man on the boat too. Typical.

Steve took off his yellow crewneck and you flushed at the sight of his bare back. He was toned in just the right way that made you want to run your hands all over him, and you could go weak at the knees at the sight of his chest…but that was besides the point; right now, you needed to focus on the task at hand: not letting your boyfriend go kill himself trying to solve an inter-dimensional mystery.

“Steve, just let me go, okay? I’m practically dying anyway,” you argued, trying to pry the flashlight out of his hand. He swiftly pulled his hand above his head and out of your reach.

“Okay, absolutely not. No way…in hell. Alright?”

“Steve,” you looked up at him with so much worry that he about broke right then and there. But what he was doing was to save you, so that you would still be around for him to keep looking into those beautiful eyes.

He pulled you into a tight hug, placing a kiss to the top of his head. You placed a gentle kiss to his bare chest as you tried to swallow the worry that had leapt to your throat. “I’ll be alright, okay? I promise.”

He extended his pinky towards you and you hooked yours around his, taking a deep breath and nodding. “Be careful,” you warned him, and just like that he dove into the lake, disappearing under the surface of the water.

“Holy shit,” you whispered, holding a hand to your chest as you tried to remain calm. Normally when the two of you had faced supernatural bullshit together, you faced it together. The fact that Steve was on a solo mission right now was enough to make your heart explode. Maybe that made you codependent but right now you didn’t care.

“Woah, y/n are you okay?” Robin asked, noticing the way your breath was shaky.

“Yeah, I-I’m fine, I just need….to catch my breath is all,” you responded. She rubbed circles around your back, trying to comfort you while the four of you waited for Steve to resurface. How long could he even hold his breath for? You couldn’t even fucking breathe and you had access to plenty of oxygen.

“Where we at, Wheeler?” Robin asked, starting to get worried herself.

“Closing in on a minute.”

You all stared at the undisturbed lake. The silence was deafening and you were about fifteen seconds away from jumping in yourself when the surface of the water broke and Steve emerged, causing all of you to jump.

“I found it,” Steve reported, swimming towards the side of the boat to get back in.

“You found it?” You asked, hope starting to build in your chest, relieved that your boyfriend was no longer in the depths of Lover’s Lake searching for inter-dimensional portals.

“I found it, yeah, I found it,” he reiterated with a chuckle, his eyes shining as hope began to build in his heart as well. He grabbed onto the side of the boat, and it gently rocked towards him.

“Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein! Steve found the gate!” Robin reported back to land.

“It’s pretty wild,” Steve explained, “it’s more of a snack sized gate than the mama gate, but still, it’s pretty damn big.”

No sooner had Steve finished his sentence, did he suddenly dip below the surface of the water, his shout cut off by his head nearly going under. He gripped the side of the boat more firmly, it teetering to the side, causing the rest of you to fall off balance. Steve bobbed back up, looking you in the eye, before he was suddenly yanked under the water again, this time losing his grip on the boat and disappearing completely below the surface of the lake.

“Steve!” You shouted, beginning to hyperventilate. You felt your stomach drop as he didn’t resurface. Everyone else on the boat was yelling and shouting and everything was starting to go fuzzy. They sounded far away and all you could hear was your heart beating in your chest.

Eddie, Robin, and Nancy were shouting at each other, arguing about what they should do. Your mind finally cleared in the chaos of the moment. You didn’t think twice, standing up and ignoring their protests as you dove headfirst into the cold water of the lake.

***

a/n: shit’s gettin’ real. Anyway, again so sorry about taking forever, but I hope it was worth the wait :). Reblog if you’re feeling generous and want to make me smile! Also comment! I love hearing what you think and it helps motivate me to write more when I see people interacting with the story! Love you all <3

taglist:

@season4steve @sassyheroneckgiant @tangledinthegreatxscape @kahhorri @palachannie @chaerfull @usaguisenpaisblog @emilieluckwood @sabrinadelreyy @mochminnie @xprloki @kitdjarin1 @kissmxcheek @daemonskitty @bethsvrse @aheadfullofsteverogers @quinnsadilla @chervbs @sheisjoeschateau @goosy-goose @frtfvthg @criesinlies @cycat4077 @kachelleee @killerqueenfan @newyorkangelbaby @spaghetittied @anxfl

#stranger things #steve harrington #joe keery #steve harrington fanfic #netflix #friends to lovers #steve harrington friends to lovers #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington stranger things #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things x reader #steve harrington angst #steve harrington x you #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff

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girl-next-door-writes · 7 months

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You Matter To Me

Characters: Steve Harington x reader

Summary: A shared moment before heading into the Upside Down where you and Steve both reflect on what is important.

Word Count: 1000 words

Prompt: You Matter To Me

A/N: I have been going through some ‘real world’ stuff recently and this song showed up on my radar again and despite the million fics I have to write I felt this needed to be written. It isn’t perfect, I couldn’t find all the words, but if you are reading this then I want you to know that you matter.

Nobody should have this much pressure placed on them, and yet he had taken it almost willingly. The role of leader, of protector, it weighed heavy on his shoulders, and although he hid it well, there were flashes of the truth hidden in those beautiful, soulful eyes; eyes you could happily get lost in, even on the worst days, perhaps especially on the worst days. Their warm richness comforting, even though the slivers of profound sadness swam in their depths. Each horror he had witnessed haunted him, words left unsaid and yet screaming as the two of you looked at each other. Insecurity, doubt, the fragility of his carefully crafted self-confident persona swam in those sad eyes, shattering your heart into a million pieces.

There were no words. The painful realization that nothing said could make things any better, caused a deep ache in your soul. Taking a seat beside him, you simply shuffled closer, tucking yourself into his side and slipping your hand into his. Interlacing your fingers, you looked down at your hands, silently vowing to stay right there by his side for as long as he would let you.

This beautiful boy had gotten under your skin, and although your emotions for him were largely undefined, he mattered to you. He was important. He was…irrevocably connected to you. How do you even begin to tell someone that? It isn’t as simple as those three overused words, and it was deeper than a romantic desire. You saw him, just as he truly was, and knew that he was enough, that your life was infinitely improved by his existence. Did he know that? Was he aware of how he touched everyone’s life? You felt an almost overwhelming desire to grip him by the shoulders and shake him until he understood that he was so much more than he believed; that he truly did matter. But instead, the two of you sat in silence, holding hands and watching the others preparing.

Steve stole a glance at you, allowing himself a moment to just be a nineteen-year-old boy, sitting holding hands with someone he cared about. It was a little addictive spending time with you. There was just something about the way you listened to him, like you heard all the parts he didn’t say out loud, and you didn’t think he was stupid or broken.

He had a close friendship with Robin, he adored his best friend, and then there were the ‘kids’, and Nancy; well, the Nancy thing was complicated. Now he also had Eddie… All these people depending on him, needing him to step up and take the lead. There was a part of him that wanted to run, to just get in his car and drive away from this hellhole and start over. If he’d gone to college then he wouldn’t be here for this shit, this would be someone else’s problem. The guilt of that thought gnawed at him and he subconsciously squeezed your hand. He was scared, but he knew he couldn’t turn his back, he would never forgive himself.

There was something different about this fight, a shadow in the back of his mind that said they might not all make it. Looking around at his friends, he felt his heart clench. They all mattered. Dustin would probably go on to cure some deadly disease or figure out a way for everyone to live on the moon or some shit. Lucas, he had a shot at becoming a pro athlete, if he focused. Nancy had a bright future as a journalist maybe, blowing the lid off government corruption and saving people… Each and every one of them had such potential to make a real difference in the world. The only person he could even consider disposable in the grand scheme of things, was himself. This might be the one thing, the moment where he might be of some importance, making sure the rest of them got through.

He was brought out of his thoughts by your head resting on his shoulder. It was such a small gesture but it grounded him, and he found himself leaning down, his cheek pressing against your hair as he closed his eyes.

“Steve?” Your voice was so quiet that he could easily have imagined that you had spoken.

“Yeah?”

“You matter to me. More than all this. More than most people.” Your words hung in the air between the two of you and he felt a tear roll down his cheek.

“Thanks.”

“I mean it. Don’t go doing anything ‘heroic’, because if something happens to you then I’m just gonna have to make a deal with the devil, or bring you back as a zombie or something, and then you’ll be screwed. You will feel my wrath.”

“Your wrath?” he chuckled, an eyebrow raising in amusement as he opened his eyes again.

“Yes, my wrath. I will be incredibly pissed at you for doing something so stupid, and for leaving me, and then making me learn voodoo so I can bring you back to yell at you.”

“Yeah, that does seem like it might be a bit of a hassle.”

“A major one. So, just promise me you will try your best to see me on the other side of all this because, for some fucked up reason Harrington, you really matter to me.”

“Okay.” He said softly, his fingers playing with yours as he took your words to heart. Turning his head slightly, he placed a gentle kiss to the top of your head and let out a deep sigh. “And, for the record, you matter to me too.”

You didn’t reply, you didn’t have to. It was obvious that the feelings between the two of you were simultaneously infinitely complex and so simple. Hopefully there would be time to explore each and every nuance of what it meant to matter to each other, but for now, Steve was content to just sit beside you and feel.

#Steve Harrington #Steve Harrington x reader #gndw fic

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riveatstoes · 7 months

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the idea of finn wolfhard’s roles being somehow related has been beaten to death already but i do enjoy the concept of richie tozier and mike wheeler being twins separated when they were young, and then being forced to endure their own interdimensional horrors with their groups of Loser Buddies.

i also like the idea of how they’d react to each other’s aforementioned interdimensional horrors. personally i think if richie had to deal with anything remotely upside-down related he’d Flip The Fuck Out and just scream a lot. if he came face to face with a demogorgon he’d try to hit it with a baseball bat or a stick or something, and then max or lucas (or maybe even el) would have to go out of their way to save him from his own dipshit decisions.

alternatively i believe that pennywise would be a cakewalk for mike and the party. mike would simply hit it with the “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls 🙄” and it’d be so confused it would have no choice but to back off. i also am a firm believer that if the losers club had max with them they would’ve fully defeated pennywise in the first movie. she would’ve figured out the “make it small” shit SO FAST.

at her core max mayfield is a Thirteen Year Old Girl and i applaud her for it. i love her.

anyway i’m working on my own twins!richie and mike fanfic so we’ll see how that goes. i don’t want to post it before i have something super solid because i have a tendency to abandon fics if they don’t interest me enough the entire time. we’ll see.

bonus—some stranger things/IT pairings that i want to see more of in crossover fics:

STANLEY AND WILL!!!!!!!!! trust me

bev and el

dustin and richie

if you’re gonna do the bev/max thing i also strongly suggest doing lucas/ben as well because what’s the point of writing the ginger girlbosses without their Stupid Goofy Men?

bill and mike w

idk i just feel like eddie k would just hate eddie munson. crossover where the losers club have to climb through that portal in the munsons’ trailer and eddie k refuses purely because of the state of eddie m’s mattress

i get the feeling that stanley would be the one constantly being stuck with steve and robin and forced into ridiculous tasks. imagine the stranger things 3 russian elevator scene but instead of dustin trying to set up robin and steve it’s just stan uris panic-reciting bird species

stan’s first thought would be “oh she has a bird name :) nice” and then the rest is “what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck”

honestly any pairing other than reddie/byler because even though i love those boys to death it’s just so OBVIOUS atp

and also i can appreciate that they’d relate to each other but mike hanlon and lucas is far from the best mike h pairing. for example imagine him being stuck with (throws dart at board of ST character names) murray

erica sinclair and eddie kaspbrak world domination

adding onto the richie/mike twin thing the idea of nancy having to adjust to +1 brother is both funny and interesting to me. i think she’d lose it one way or another

jonathan byers and bill denbrough guilty older brothers bond

also imagine hopper reacting to a Second Mike being in his general vicinity. i think that would force him off the edge, ESPECIALLY after getting to know richie

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lab-trash · 7 months

Text

“Oh, Rocky Horror, nice,” Robin said, taking the VHS case from the customer.

“Is that right?” The man responded, getting Robin’s attention. Eddie Munson. He was in band a few years before he was kicked, but that was ages ago.

Robin shrunk into her vest as much as she could, immediately regretting her words and filling with a million anxieties.

She was saved from having to respond when Steve exited the break room.

“Oh, Eddie!” He exclaimed, rushing to the register where they were checking out. “You’re the dm for Hellfire, right?”

“Aw, I’m honoured that my quaint club is recognised by his highness.” Steve grimaced.

“Whatever, just… Do me a favour?” He asked meekly. Eddie raised a brow. “Your story thingies-”

“Campaigns.”

“Right. Don’t use the demogorgon. Or the Mind Flayer. Please,” He said. His voice was calm and slow, clearly serious. Eddie crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one leg.

“Why not?” He asked.

Steve and Robin looked at each other.

“Uhhhh,” They hesitated together.

“Will!” Robin exclaimed. Steve snapped his fingers before pointing at Eddie.

“Yes, Will!”

“Will the Wise?” Eddie asked.

Eddie had heard much about Will the Wise. Mostly from Mike. Apparently they were a team. Eddie would bet money that they’d at least thought about kissing each other before.

“Exactly, yes,” Robin said, nodding rapidly.

“Yes, Will. Their best friend! He moved to California,” Steve said, also nodding, but a bit more hesitantly.

“And they did demogorgon and mind flayer campaigns together,” Robin said.

“Very intense… intense campaigns,” Steve said awkwardly.

“The last two campaigns before he moved!”

“And the only ones to include his sister.”

“Mike’s girlfriend,” Robin added.

“Very sentimental and personal!” Steve exclaimed, a nervous laugh carrying his anxiety. “Just don’t want to remind them of who they’re missing, y’know?”

“And we know they told us they didn’t want to go up against those monsters again, but we forgot for a minute, which is why it took us so long to answer you,” Robin rushed. Steve nodded in agreement, even as Eddie’s eyes shifted sceptically from Steve to Robin.

“Whatever,” Eddie said. “They already aren’t in my notes, so if it means that much to them,” He said. “Can I have my movie now?” He asked.

“Yes, of course,” Steve said, taking the movie out of Robin’s hands and handing it to Eddie. He noticed the cover. “Oh, Rocky Horror. I’ve heard it’s good.”

“It is,” Eddie said, a smirk on his face. He took the VHS into his hands as he scanned Steve. “I gotta say, Harrington. This uniform isn’t nearly as fun as the last one, but it’ll do.”

And with that he walked off.

“He never paid for that movie,” Robin said to Steve. Steve remained silent for a moment.

“I’ll just buy a new one for the store.”

#i'm writing a steddie fic #this is from it #idk if ill ever finish it #but i just liked it so much #steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #robin buckley #will byers #will the wise #hellfire club #mike wheeler #byler #trash writes #lab writes

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tastefulstars · 1 year

Text

Of Wolf and Man 1/?

You have a secret, one that’s a little more wolfish in nature.

eddie munson x f!reader x steve harrington

a/n: anyway, i am yet again indulging every my every desire :))) not too sure how many parts this will have - probably 3 :))) word count: 3.4K warnings: 18+ mdni. slow burn. r is a werewolf. body horror. mutual pining. protectiveness. r is a little angsty with moments of softness.

masterlist next

You don’t mean to get involved.

You moved to Hawkins to lay low after a close call with hunters but you overheard a group of kids talking about a girl in their basement and you couldn’t exactly ignore that so you confront them.

“Uhh” One of the boys is saying, “What?”

“Why are you keeping a girl in your basement?” You interrogate them and their hearts kick into overdrive, their eyes widen and they stammer.

“We’re not!” A second boy laughs, shrill and nervous. Your eyebrow raises.

“Yeah - that would be weird if we were?” The third adds.

You just stare them down with a unconvinced expression on your face.

“So you wouldn’t have any issues if I were to go to your parents and have them check, then?”

They panic and they’re explaining, begging you not to involve their parents. They tell you about El, how she’s got superpowers and there’s bad men after her and she can help find Will - if it weren’t for your own abilities, your condition, you might not have believed them.

The rest is history.

You never speak about your condition, you don’t tell them and don’t plan on it, until you overhear El talking to Mike about how she feels so different, that everyone thinks she’s a freak. You pull her aside when you have a chance and whisper your confession, share with her that she’s not the only one who’s different - you hold her as she cries against your chest.

You help them keep El safe, help them battle the demogorgon alongside Steve and Nancy and Jonathan.

You mourn El with the boys, comforting them best you can and letting Mike’s anger and denial settle over you. You become fast friends with Steve, his presence and scent calms you, and while you’re a little upset he’s dating Nancy - you’re happy he’s happy.

You’re right there with Steve and Dustin trying to capture Dart, it’s rotting stink making you gag. You protect the kids from the demodogs as best you can - grabbing Lucas and twisting, letting yourself be attacked instead of him, hissing out a sharp ‘I’m fine’ when Steve fusses over you.

You do your best to placate and calm Billy when he comes looking for Max - you can smell the blood sitting under his skin and you know that he’s hurting, taking his anger out on the world. You step out of the house and ask him if he’s okay, ask him if everything at home was okay, you knew it wasn't but you wanted him to know that you'd listen.

You cry when you see El again, wrapping her in your arms and cradling her against your chest. You coo and fuss over the boys when they’re all dressed up for the Snow Ball, earning their annoyed glares as they swat your hands away from their cheeks.

Dustin drags you to the mall, insisting it’s of the utmost importance. He plays the recording for you and Steve, and Robin helps translate it. You manage to avoid being captured by the Russians, feeling guilty at leaving Steve and Robin behind. You hate yourself for not being able, not being quick enough, to save Billy - Max’s distraught cries a dagger twisting further in your heart.

You cling to Steve when the night’s over and the mall destroyed, face buried in his neck and breathing his scent in deeply, shaking and trying to keep your wild nature buried under your skin.

You spend more and more time with Steve, butterflies tickling your stomach each time he smiles at you. You visit him at work or he shows up at your house with a movie and pizza. The two of you go for drives with no real destination in mind - just enjoying the wind flowing through your hair and each others presence.

You know you should put distance between you, you know you shouldn’t let yourself get too close - you don’t want to hurt him, don’t want him to be used against you, don’t want him to look at you with disgust and horror if he ever found out.

On the night of the full moon and you're forced to transform, you wrap yourself with silver chains and lock yourself in a large cage in your basement. Screaming in agony as your bones break, your organs shift and your body changes.

It's torture and every second of it has you pleading for death.

Once the change is complete, skin and fur sizzle under the chains and it's enough to keep the monster busy for the night, yanking and biting, trying to get the silver off its skin.

You never really remember much the next morning, the pure agony wiping your memory.

It takes all of your energy to unlock yourself and drag your body into your room to sleep, exhaustion and weariness overcoming you. You feel your skin stitching itself back together as you stumble, the wounds and burns from last night slowly disappearing until all that's left is your memory of the pain.

The day following a change leaves you sore, tired and grumpy but you do your best to hide it when Steve calls, offering to pick you up and take you out for lunch. He must sense you’re not feeling yourself because he rubs your arm and offers a small smile.

“You okay, Bug?” Your lips twitch at the nickname, one given to you after an unfortunate incident with a beetle that you refuse to remember.

“Yeah, just tired” You reply, “Didn’t sleep well”

He hums, throwing his arm over your shoulders, pulling you close to him and chuckling.

“Yeah the suitcases under your eyes kinda gave that away”

You groan and rub your palm down your face.

“Want me to drop you home?” He asks, voice soft and smiling at you. It was a smile he reserved for you and only you, soft and gentle, filled with warmth.

You lean heavily on him, wrapping your arms around his waist and resting your head on your shoulder, not really wanting to be alone. You rub your cheek on him, inadvertently scenting him in your exhaustion, mixing your own unique smell with his.

“Can we go to yours?” You ask, breathing deeply and your chest expanding with giddiness as you smell your handiwork. He squeezes you and pulls you towards his car.

You lay in Steve’s bed, overwhelmed by the smell of him. Steve smells like home and it has you feeling safe enough to drift off to sleep as Steve potters around his room.

You miss the adoring look he gives you when he looks over, spotting your face buried in his pillow. You miss him gently pulling his blanket over you and tucking you in, you miss the soft kiss he presses on your head and the whisper of ‘sleep well, honey’.

Things change in ‘86.

Dustin and Mike join the Hellfire Club, Lucas joins the basketball team. Max pulls away from the group, grieving the loss of her brother.

Steve is a constant safe presence in your world, keeping you grounded and sane.

You spread yourself thin and you don’t know how much longer you can keep going, how much longer you can keep your tight control from slipping, from breaking down and exploding in a mess of bones and skin and blood and fur.

You do your best - to comfort Max, to support Lucas, to help Nancy with the school paper, to see Robin outside of school, to spend time with Dustin and Mike, to be with Steve, to study and keep your condition under wraps and keep yourself safe from the hunters you knew were after your kind.

You keep pushing yourself, patrolling your little town and checking in on your friends each night. You check deep in the woods for any signs of the hunters and the creatures from the upside down, not retiring until you’re satisfied everyone is safe - that you are still safe.

Dustin calls you on the walkie one afternoon, his voice calling you to come to the school as soon as you can.

You don’t rush, knowing he would have made a bigger deal if it was an emergency. You’re tired and sore and you can feel the ache in your bones, the tingling under your skin - the full moon was close and it was making you more sensitive to everything.

You shuffle down the hallways towards the drama room, following Dustin’s scent, his distant voice.

You push open the door and see Dustin and Eddie, who looks over to you with wide eyes. You throw yourself into a chair, leg bouncing and watch as they pack up.

“What’d you want Dustin?” You murmur, eyes slipping closed.

“Can you give me a ride home?” He asks, voice distracted.

You nod and as you breathe in, you tingle all over - warmth washing over you and the distinct smell of home filling your lungs. Eddie smells like leather and denim and weed and the woods. It soothes your restlessness and has you leaning towards it, wanting to smother yourself in it.

You open your eyes and watch as Eddie finishes up packing away his supplies, his eyes darting over to you every few seconds. When he spots you watching him, you hear his heart beating faster, see the flush spread on his cheeks.

Your stomach flips and you feel like you’re floating, you offer him a small smile and hold your hand out to Dustin.

“C’mon, peanut” Laughing as Dustin groans at the nickname, “See ya ‘round, Eds”

“Yeah! See you!” He says fast, wide eyed and nervous.

You start spending time with Eddie as well as Steve, his presence soothing your soul in ways you couldn’t really describe, and you find yourself wanting, wanting to be with them both, wanting them near you and needing them in your life.

You don’t push your luck, keeping your feelings closely guarded and making the most of them giving your their friendship.

You invite Eddie over to your small home often. Most of the time, you just enjoy each other’s company, not really doing much more than listening to music and talking.

You lay on the floor of the living room with your feet propped up on the couch beside Eddie.

“Eds?” You voice breaks the comfortable silence.

“Yeah?” He hums.

“What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

Your question makes him laugh, and you turn your head so you can watch his eyes crinkle.

“Aren’t we already grown up?”

“Nope! Now answer the question”

“I wanna get out of this town, take off with my music and tour the world” His voice is wistful and you ache, wanting to him to live his dream and wanting him to never leave you.

“You can do it” You say softly, swallowing hard, “I believe in you”

He beams at you, cheeks flushing and he rubs the back of his neck, he clears his throat.

“What about you?”

“I wanna be a frog”

He barks out a loud laugh, and you feel a silly grin take over your face.

It’s between the moments where you find yourself listening to Eddie’s heartbeat and wishing Steve was right there with you, that you realize that you’re in love with them.

You almost wish you didn’t let the thought, the realization, cross your mind - wishing you could stay in denial and ignore the painful longing you felt when you didn’t let yourself, couldn’t let yourself, get too close to them.

Your heart hurts and you don’t know how you keep the smile on your face, the pain hidden inside your chest. It would be enough, it had to be, to just have them in your life. To see their smiles and hear their laughs, and let their strong heart beats soothe you and drink in their intoxicating scents.

When Eddie’s accused of murdering Chrissy you almost loose control. Seething with fury and feeling your nails sharpening, elongating, and you could feel the sharp prick of your long canines in your gums.

When Max and Dustin come to you, Steve, Nancy and Robin, explaining she saw Eddie running away the night Chrissy died. They lead the way to the spot Max saw him and then you take the lead, following Eddie’s scent until you stumble on his hiding place. He looked so scared, heart beating wildly and oozing fear, you dig your sharp claws into your palms to stop yourself throwing your arms around him, from tearing the assholes who hurt him apart.

The group explains everything to him, they share ideas and try to come up with a plan. You dart your eyes around, feeling the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

“We should leave” You murmur, interrupting Robin, “It’s not safe here”

You’re grabbing Dustin without thinking, pushing him the way you came and your hands entwine with Steve and Eddies and you’re moving, herding the group out of the woods.

You press your spare key into Eddie’s palm before you all head your separate ways.

“You know that I live by myself” You tell him, “If you need somewhere to go - it’s safe there”

His expression crumples, you yank him into a crushing hug and he whispers a soft ‘thanks, frog’ into your hair. Steve asks you about it when he’s driving you home, his eyes darting between the road and you. He clears his throat.

“Uh, um - Bug?” He asks, you hear his nerves.

“What’s up?”

“Are- Do-” He’s stuttering his words, his heart picking up pace. His words rush out and you wouldn’t have heard if you weren’t completely focused on him.

“Are you and Eddie, like, together?”

You’re stunned silent, staring at him.

“I- No?”

“But you like him, right?”

“Steve, where’s this coming from?”

“I, just - I see the way he looks at you. Sometimes, I think you look at him the same”

“Steve”

“It’s fine if you do” He rushes out, “I-”

“Steve, stop” You cut him off and he falls silent, “It’s not- I. It’s- It’s complicated, I guess”

“How is liking someone complicated?” He asks, confused. Your chest squeezes painfully.

“It is when it’s two someones” You sigh, “Can we not? I don’t want to get into it. Please, Stevie”

You see the way he does a double take, glancing at you before focusing on the road, his heart tapping out a quick beat.

You’ve been holding the change back, having more important things to worry about, but you can feel it building under your skin and simmering. You know it won’t be long until you can’t force it back anymore, until you won’t have any semblance of control. You just hope that you can hold it off until this crisis has been averted.

You follow your boys into the Upside Down, armed to the teeth and with a plan of attack. Your group manages to destroy Venca, setting him alight in his home and as you flee your small group is quickly overwhelmed with bats. You fight, tearing them to shred and it burns.

You feel yourself slipping in your fury, in your anger and it’s getting harder and harder not to let go and give in to it.

You’re snarling at Steve, at Eddie, growling at them to climb the fucking rope. You couldn’t let them get hurt, couldn’t risk them dying, not if you could save them, if you could save them all.

You are ready to stay, prepared to sacrifice yourself if it meant your boys were safe, were alive.

You let yourself take them in one more time, gaze lingering on their retreating forms. You try to commit their faces to memory - Steve’s strong jaw and soft, almond eyes and fluffy hair and Eddie’s wide brown eyes and round nose and full lips.

“Bug, come on!” You hear Steve shouting at you. It’s distant, far away.

You turn, holding your spear towards the oncoming swarm.

“Don’t you dare!” Eddie screams.

Then they’re gone, their voices disappearing and you let your tears fall, let the change overtake you. You scream as you’re ripped apart and sown back together again.

You’re not sure how long you’re there, trapped in the upside down.

It feels like an eternity.

You stay in your monstrous wolf form, tearing apart anything that crosses your path. You can feel something missing, a part of you howls and longs for it but everything is simpler in this form, no complicated thoughts or emotions.

Just anger, hunger, exhaustion, pain, loneliness.

You snarl and tear apart another bat, claws sinking into its flesh easily.

You were sure that you’d almost eradicated every single horrible thing in this dark world. You only stopped when you needed to rest, to heal, finding a safe hideaway and closing your eyes for a restless sleep, dreaming of warm eyes and soft smiles.

You don’t know how long you chase and kill but it feels like an eternity and if you had the awareness of your human mind, you’d be worried at how much you enjoy it.

You track down the last of the bats, they flee at the sight of you and you give chase, reviling in the thrill of the hunt. Your anger burns bright as you see them worming their way through a portal, barely there and forgotten.

You chase them, forcing your way through the opening, tearing at your flesh. You’re not sure where you are but you can make out multiple heart beats, hear distant voices.

They weren’t your concern.

You had a job to do, and that involved destroying these god forsaken bats.

Just as one manages to break the wooden doors that trap it in the room with you, you’re on it. You’re snarling, twisting and sinking your teeth into its neck and pulling with your sharp claws. You hear screams but you focus, the other bats were swooping, trying to dig their talons into your fur and break your skin.

Your back is towards the heart beats and you snarl, bringing yourself to your full height and baring your fangs. The last of them would die tonight.

It’s a mess of blood and viscera and it’s over all too soon. You’re still set alight with the hunt and you snuff, growling and pacing back and forth over your fallen prey.

“What the fuck?”

Words filter through your haze and you turn, baring your sharp teeth at them, a low growl rumbling in your chest. They stumble backwards, tripping over themselves and clinging to each other. You hear their fear, in their hearts and in their breathing and in the small noises they make - you almost like it.

One of them is stepping forward, the others reach for them.

They say your name softly.

Your mind screams at the reminder of you you were, who you are. You still, falling silent and focusing your gaze on them.

El whispers a voice from the back of your mind.

Howling snarls slip into howling screams as your bones snap and break and rearrange themselves. Your organs tear and stitch themselves back together and you choke on blood, coughing as it spills from your lips as your sharp teeth are replaced with blunt ones. Fur is torn from your body, leaving behind smooth skin.

El catches you as you fall, wrapping your arms around you and whispering your name, over and over.

You don’t have the strength to open your eyes, to do anything but let El hold you. You hear the kids crying out your name, their footsteps as they rush to you. You hear Nancy’s sharp intake of breath and Robin’s soft cry, hear Eddie and Steve’s heart still for a moment before taking off in a rapid tap.

You hear Steve snapping at the kids, telling them to give you space and you feel Eddie’s rough denim vest being wrapped around your naked form, feel arms lifting you.

You feel your exhaustion slamming into you and you slip into blissful darkness.

#stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things x you #eddie munson #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #steve harrington #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steddie x reader #steddie x you #werewolf #werewolf fic #i:my writing #story:owam

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artiststarme · 1 year

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Losing A Part Of Me

I don't think my last one was angsty enough so here you go, extra angst! This is based on a prompt that @pyrohonk gave me awhile ago. I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments. Warning: Major Character Death

Title brought to you by @hannahhook7744

~*~*~*~

Steve had a bad feeling. As soon as they walked into the Upside Down version of the Creel House, his stomach dropped. The hope and blind faith that carried him forwards left him abruptly. Dread flooded his system and all he could feel was an all encompassing anxiety.

“Rob…” He muttered, he blindly searched for her hand and she gave it a squeeze.

“It’s alright, we’re gonna get him. We’ll get Vecna,” she flashed him a small grin but it didn’t help the pit in his stomach. If anything, it made it worse.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking and Steve reached out to steady her and Nancy. They grabbed his arm and all three of them kept each other balanced. Where did that even come from? They stood still for a moment to take stock of everything. Maybe that was what had his stomach in knots? They could handle quakes, they had the last time they were down here.

What they couldn’t handle though were the inky tentacles set on destroying everything in their path. Like Robin. A slimy tentacle wrapped around her ankle and pulled, sending her sprawling to the ground and then pinning her to the wall.

“Steve!” Her voice was filled with horror but Steve was frozen. He couldn’t help her through his own shock and guilt. It was his fault she was in this situation in the first place. If he hadn’t dragged her into deciphering that Russian code, she could be living a normal life being a weird band kid without any danger. She wouldn’t be bound to the wall with tentacles wrapped around her neck, struggling to breathe as Nancy tried to cut her down.

While stuck in his thoughts, tentacles had wrapped around his arms and legs too. They dragged him up the wall directly across from Robin. He could see her face turning red then blue then purple.

“Rob,” he choked out. He couldn’t breathe but he was still struggling with all of his strength to escape his slithery binds to save Robin.

Her eyes met his one more time before her eyes slid shut and the tension in her body dissipated. Steve could practically see the life leave her. Her strong spirit was broken down to nothing, her intelligence was tampered, and her rambling words were silenced. Robin was dead.

Steve’s heart dropped when the tentacles let go of her and she dropped to the ground just to lay there unmoving. He watched where her body was crumpled at the foot of the stairs for what felt like forever, but was probably just a few moments. Time dragged on without Robin filling the silence. As soon as his own tentacle binds started to weaken, he yanked his arms and neck free and dropped to his knees before Robin. Nancy knelt at her other side and honestly, Steve was surprised to see her. He’d forgotten she was even here. His mind was solely focused on Robin.

“Robin, hey, hey, hey. Wake up. Come on, you’re the early bird. Robs, please wake up,” his pleas only grew more desperate the longer she remained unresponsive. “Robin! Please wake up. I need you, please wake up.”

“Steve,” Nancy’s voice was gentle but stern. “She doesn’t have a pulse. She’s gone. But we still have a job to do. We have to go kill Vecna.”

Steve just settled next to Robin and grabbed her hand. What was the point in killing Vecna? He’d already lost the most important person to him and frankly, he didn’t want to win this fight if it meant living without Robin. His best friend, the co-owner of his last brain cell, his platonic soulmate with a capital P. How was he supposed to function now?

He couldn’t focus on Nancy’s threats or her departure to deal with Vecna alone. He could only focus on how Robin’s hands were getting colder. Her hands were always warm but now they were chilly. Her face was swollen and bruised, she hardly looked like his Robin. But if he closed his eyes, he could imagine that they were laying in his bed after their respective nightmares. She would be sleeping and muttering nonsense in her sleep, kicking his legs and hogging all of the blankets. And he would be awake, watching her to make sure she slept okay after seeing the nightly reminders of the torture they went through.

With his eyes closed, he could imagine that she was still alive. So, even when the ground started to shake and the room grew unbearably hot, Steve kept his eyes shut. He kept his eyes squeezed tightly until he burned with the rest of the house.

The Party lost that day and Vecna won. He took Steve’s heart and watched the Party flounder without their fearless leader. Because who would Steve be without Robin at his side? They were so inexplicably linked after the events of Starcourt that they couldn’t live without the other by their side. And they didn’t.

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#Just kidding! It's just a nightmare #Or is it?#I'm putting Robin on the list of people I don't kill now because this was heartbreaking #stranger things #fanfic #steve harrington #robin buckley #nancy wheeler

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cluz1babe · 10 months

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I tried to write reader with no comments on size (as in plus size) or the length of hair, in order to be as inclusive I can be with an afab reader. Reader is 18, Eddie is 20. For obvious reasons, Eddie didn’t die. No use of Y/NIf you want to be Tagged for future chapters, send me a message. Please reblog.

Certain Dark Things Are Meant to Be Loved Chapter 1

Warnings: Reader afab, angst, nipple torture/play, oral, p in v, fingering, sort of protected sex, mentions of underage sex

You were average…everything.

How could Eddie possibly know you were alive, let alone want to be with you?

That was, until you attacked the bats that were eating Eddie alive, earning a few bites of your own. After that, everything changed. Suddenly, Eddie started inviting you to parties and offered you weed at one point. All while you started falling in love with him. You always had a crush on him from afar (living in the same trailer park didn’t help), but he was one of the last people you expected to notice you. After all, you were shy and quiet. You hated being so invisible. It wasn’t like those stories you hear about. You weren't the popular one or another nerd like Eddie. It was just the random girl & the Freak.

You had become more attracted to Eddie since you officially met him. You were both seniors together. You had started out as friends with benefits with Steve, but then went back to just being friends when Steve decided he wanted to find romance. This was the type of relationship you had with people, keeping them at a distance and focusing on yourself. You admitted to Eddie that you were previously in a relationship with a guy named Justin, who not only cheated, but made everything about himself. Why Steve ever paid you attention was beyond you. You were so different, but he was immediately drawn to you, when you helped Steve look for a product in the store where you worked. You had been visiting Steve and Robin at Family Video when Dustin and Max came in. After you all fought Vecna, Eddie and you became friends quickly. You bonded over guitar, music, and movies. Then things evolved.

You talked about what you each planned for the future, past relationships (your first kiss was a girl and you liked girls, too), and even about your loss of virginity stories. Eddie was 16 when he lost his in the back of his van. He had been so nervous that the girl had to be on top, taking charge. You lost yours at 16. It was a secret you hadn’t told anyone else. You were a sophomore and the guy was a junior. You were going to a different school then. Eddie bristled. He was already protective over you and he wished he’d known you then, just so he could warn you about this guy. As though it were his place to do such a thing.

To Eddie, you weren’t that random girl anymore. You the one who helped fight demobats to save him before they all fell. Over a few weeks, he saw what he hadn’t before. He saw you. More than that, he saw your beauty, strength, and calmness under pressure. And he wanted you in his life. You babysat Eddie when he tripped on acid, with the promise that you would do it together some day. You watched crappy horror movies, listened to music, and smoked pot. Eddie even taught you a little bit of guitar. Being able to touch you and hold you close, even if it was completely innocent, made him want more.

After about three weeks of hanging out together, you found you had much more in common than just fighting supernatural stuff. Your feelings for each other grew. One night, you went to swim at the Harringtons’ house and that’s where you first kissed, after Eddie asked, of course. “Yes,” you practically yelled. It was enough for Eddie. He took his time, gently caressing your cheek. You leaned in first, bringing your lips within a centimeter of his. He smiled before touching his lips to yours. It was soft and sweet at first, but it quickly turned hungry with all the longing that was built up between them.

“Can I touch you more?” Eddie asked.

You looked around, even though you were both alone, you felt it was better not to. “Not here.” You gave him another quick peck before pulling him to the shallow end and out of the water.

- - - - - - - -

You made it to Eddie’s new trailer (one big enough for another large bedroom) and as soon as the door was closed behind you, his lips were on you again, moving your damp hair out of the way and kissing the back of your neck, his arms wrapped around your waist. You turned to face him. “Can’t even wait till we get to your room?”

“Absolutely not,” he teased as he leaned in to kiss you again.

You giggled, “C’mon.” You pulled him to his room, where you continued kissing. “Now you can touch me.”

He didn’t waste any time. His hands grazed from your sides to your breasts, where he gave them a quick squeeze. You moaned in response, which caused Eddie to chuckle. “You like that?”

You nodded, “I like it rough.”

“Sweetheart, that wasn’t rough.”

“I know, silly. Just thought I’d let you know… I like having my nipples pulled.”

“Really?” Eddie admired your chest as he pulled off your shirt, which was wettish from your wet skin clinging to it. He backed you up to his bed. When you lay down, you pulled him with you. He was between your legs before you knew what to do.

The heat in your belly grew. “Eddie,” it came out as a whisper.

“What?”

“Don’t go catching feelings.” You felt like you had to say it. Something inside you wanted to guard against heartbreak before it could happen. The only way you could do that is by pretending you didn’t already have those feelings. You trusted Eddie, but your experience had led to more than one bad breakup.

With that, he kissed you again, longer and hungrier. It was too late. He already had feelings, but he wanted you so bad. Once you were naked, he spread your legs open and worshipped your skin; the skin of your thighs, especially. “I need you to tell me what you like.”

“I like a lot of things, but I’ve never had an orgasm with a partner.”

This caught Eddie’s attention.

“And even by myself, it takes a toy to get me to cum. I’ve only ever been able to do that with my fingers once.”

“Poor baby.” He felt bad for you, never having a partner who could make you cum. He accepted the challenge with enthusiasm, though. Perhaps these other guys didn’t take the time you needed. Getting to do this with you was something he’d wanted to do for weeks. He even thought about you when he touched himself, imagining you were between his legs, your mouth doing it’s work.

“I still enjoy sex. It feels good.”

“I’m gonna do my best to change this orgasm issue. Tell me more.” He kissed from your neck to your chest, taking a nipple in his mouth and biting the delicate bud just enough to make you moan.

“I like having my clit played with, for starters.”

He moved his fingers to your clit, circling his index finger around the bundle, which caused you to buck your hips forward.

“Tell me what kind of toy you have.” Eddie continued his track of kisses, sucking or biting every now and then.

“It’s called a rabbit. A very good friend sent it to me from Japan. She knows about my problem. It has a shaft and a vibrating clit stimulator.”

“You’ll have to show it to me sometime.” He increased the speed of his finger around your nub. You moaned and arched your back. The sounds you were making were better than he’d imagined. So dirty. So soft. The sight of you was even better. Everything about what was happening was so much better. “How big is the shaft?”

“Three, maybe four fingers. Fingers my size, anyway.”

He moved his fingers to tease your entrance. “I think we’ll start with two.” With that, he plunged his fingers into your slick, warm hole, causing you to moan again. “Do you use it to fuck yourself?”

“Yes.”

His fingers pumped in and out. He pushed in up to his knuckle and hooked his fingers. “Does it reach here?” He was hitting your g-spot perfectly as he played with you.

You gasped and grabbed his arm. “Not that well,” you whimpered.

“Tell me if you want me to change or do anything else.” Eddie immediately bent down and licked your bundle, then he sucked on it.

“Mmm. Yes. Harder.”

He happily complied. Hearing you give him directions caused a heat he’d never felt before to radiate from his chest to his belly, then down to his crotch. He also reached up to pinch and pull at your nipple with his free hand. He wrapped his tongue around your clit and sucked more. He ate you out like it would be the last time he’d ever get to do it.

You nearly screamed. “Oh fuck! What are you doing to me?”It only egged him on. “Eddie,” you moaned.

He lifted his head to look at you. “Hmm?”

The sight of his face, chin wet with your juices, caused a pulsing in your center. “No, don’t stop.” You pushed his head back down to your wet core, your fingers tangling in his hair.

He smirked then continued his work, fucking you with his fingers and teasing, then sucking on your clit, pulling and squeezing hard on your nipple. His hips grinding against the bed, looking for any amount of friction. You played with your other nipple with your free hand. It went on for at least twenty minutes. Eddie was determined to make you cum.

Your hand tugged at his hair a little as you keened and sobbed. “Fuck, Eddie. I’m close.”

He squeezed your nipple harder and a few seconds later, your entire body tensed, then it vibrated as you came on his tongue. He moaned as he tasted your release, but he let go of your nipple and licked your folds. Each time his tongue touched your clit, your body spasmed. You were so sensitive now.

As soon as you came back to your senses, you reached for his bulge, “What about you? Don’t you want me to take care of you?”

“I do,” he groaned. Eddie kissed you and you tasted yourself on his lips. “But I wanna fuck you.”

You smiled wide. “I want you to.”

His hand moved from around your waist, and up to your breast again, giving it a squeeze. The same hand smoothed its way over your abdomen. You nodded, not knowing what else to say. He teased your entrance with the tip of his cock, circling your clit and making your body arch into his. He slipped himself inside of you. He was a little clumsy in his movements, but you didn’t mind. You smiled against his lips and grabbed his hands, relishing in the feeling of him against you. He pushed just the tip in, and you couldn’t take your eyes off of the warm, stiff flesh splitting you in two. He bent his head to catch your attention on his face, but you ignored it for a while, knowing he couldn’t make you look up just yet. You just watched him sink slowly in. You mewled when he buried himself to the hilt, deep in your pussy. Eddie was staring at you, starry eyed, drinking you in as he bit his bottom lip to try to hold his noises in.

Clinging on to his biceps, your fingernails dug into his skin, your hips rolling up to meet his as Eddie thrusted into your heat. He pistoned his hips, changing the angle inside of you, rubbing against your inner sweet spot. You felt his lips devour your neck and jaw. Your eyes couldn’t focus, your hands were shaking. All your brain could focus on was Eddie Munson. You released ecstatic whines and noticed how he breathed, how hot his skin was, how hard he was...

He slid out painfully slow and then hit home. He nipped and kissed at every spot of your skin he had access to, leaving a wet trail. He brought your nipple into his mouth, sucking and biting. You whimpered his name, begging him not to stop what he was doing. "Fuck," he whispered savagely, his breath ghosting against your neck as he tried so hard not to cum too soon. Liquid heat rushed right between your legs as you held on to him and screamed. He felt you clench around him and made a noise of pleasure, drawing out a long, powerful thrust that had every nerve in your body singing.

You repositioned the two of you, having him lay on his back. One hand pressed into his chest, as you rode Eddie quickly, chasing another high with every brush of his cock deep inside you. Eddie’s breathing was short and shallow, grunting out loose, incoherent words. He was rubbing your clit with his fingers. You fisted his hair in response, earning a growl. You bit your lip as his hips bucked quicker. His voice pitched higher as his body worked faster. He was almost there.

“Eddie! Fuck!” When you came, you lost your wits for a moment, which Eddie thought meant that he had to chase his high on his own, but you got off of him, bringing your mouth to his length and licking him up and down.

“I thought you were on birth control.”

“I am, but I want to taste you.” You smiled before you started bobbing your head up and down his length.

“Baby, fuck. You’re fucking amazing. Never thought—“ He was going to say something about his feelings, but you started sucking harder. Within seconds, he was coming undone beneath you. You swallowed every drop of him and he pulled you up to kiss him.

That night, you fell asleep with his arms around you.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x you #eddie munson #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fanfic #fanfic #reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson fic

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greenlikethesea · 10 months

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College AU!

ahhhhh, the college AU! the basic premise of this one is that eddie and chrissy have been dating since freshman year, but she breaks up with him before senior year because she has discovered she's gay. they try to be friends but it's increasingly difficult, especially since she meets robin and tries to pursue her immediately. now that they're pushed together all the time, he and steve, after a misunderstanding, start to get to know each other, and eddie figures out that the whole "bisexual" thing is not a phase after all. featuring gay steve, for a fun reversal of tropes!

here's a snippet from that one:

All that hair, all that golden skin, tight, pert ass and thighs like that? Pretty face like that with that ski slope nose, those pretty lips, those big brown eyes? Bit of a tummy, broad shoulders? Chest hair poking out of his polo, probably more where that came from? Eddie…well, he doesn’t know what he wants to do. He wants to touch, that much is true. But guys like this make Eddie nervous.

“Hey there,” the guy says, waving. “I’m Steve. What’s your name?”

All of a sudden, Eddie doesn’t have a name. He’s never had a name in his life. He’s always existed as a nameless entity, floating through this world. He’s certain he looks both bright pink and dull as ditchwater.

“His name is Eddie,” Chrissy says, his saving grace. “It’s just a lot for him right now.”

“That’s fine, I get it,” Steve says. A conspiratorial grin spreads on his face. “Eddie, have you ever watched RuPaul’s Drag Race?”

Eddie freezes, and not just because Steve’s magnetizing attention is on him. He’s not opposed to drag at all – but he’s much more of a Rocky Horror Picture Show kind of guy than a RuPaul guy. He’s never watched a single second of this show, and he knows he should have, because it’s been on for a kajillion years and Gareth’s always bugging him to just try it out, it’s funny, you’ll have fun, c’mon Eddie, and fuck, he’s going to fail the Queer Student Union and they’re going to kick him out and never let him back in –

“No,” Eddie blurts out, because he’s always been a shit liar. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. “My roommate and his boyfriend watch every week, but I’m not really into it.”

Steve…breathes a sigh of relief? “Oh thank God. Eddie, you’re my new favorite person. See, Robbie, there are sane people on this planet!”

“Just because you’re the only gay guy on planet Earth who doesn’t watch it,” Robin shouts from the other side of the room.

“No one told me that it was a requirement of membership,” Steve shouts back. His focus isn’t leaving Eddie. His eyes are brown, but they’re not dark like his own eyes – they’re light, almost hazel, warm and glittery. “Did they tell you, Eddie?”

#asks #thank you for asking!

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thestobingirlie · 11 months

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i just sent in another ask, but i had some positive thoughts i wanted to share. i love steve and max's relationship. steve really is the brother she always wanted, and she's the family that steve has craved. like, they matter to each other so much. also, lucas and steve! they have so much in common, esp w how they interact w the upside down and how protective they are. there really are special and unique connections between steve and each of the kids. it's amazing and so important to me. oh, and i love it whenever people write steve as someone who isn't at all phased by horror movies. like, robin's clinging to him, and he's just vibing. (and obviously, anything that's actually stobin, i adore. unfortunately, the fandom often doesn't know how to write that when ships are involved. but anytime when they're v physically affectionate and goofing off w each other and doing things that other people would probably perceive as romantic, but they're just doing their own soulmate shit. i love them, they love each other so much.)

max and steve mean everything to me. honestly i think it’s crazy that the show doesn’t dive more into their relationship. and though the fandom does, i think we should do it more. just the way max has always craved a big brother, and she got that with steve! someone that has looked after her, and protected her, and saved her life from the day they first met. he didn’t even know her. but he put his life on the line for her. he listened to her, and got beat within an inch of his life for her and lucas.

steve and lucas. oh my boys. like you said, they really do have so much in common, especially in how they protect and take care of their family. they may not have magical powers, but both of them have thrown their bodies in front of their loved ones, and did everything they could to save them.

and yeah, i could talk about steve’s connections with the kids all day long lmao. even ones that are not featured in the show at all.

steve is such a guy that isn’t phased by horror movies to me. i just can’t see it any other way. his heart rate is just constantly raised, he’s always stressed. manufactured fear does nothing anymore lmao.

every time stobin is cast aside for a romantic ship, a puppy dies. i would like for you all to keep that in mind when writing fics. they’re just everything. they are attached at the hip. Do Not Separate. they’re for the girls. not everyone gets it. they’re just doing their soulmate shit, fuck everyone else.

#steve harrington #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #robin buckley #stranger things #asks #anon

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robinbuckme · 2 years

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steddie, my loves

who else is anxious for v2?? anyways here’s some steddie fics in no particular order to help soothe the soul. i’ve marked my favs with a (*)

*Not So Bad [43k, M] by outofmygourd

Vecna is dead. It's the summer after the party's freshman year. Steve Harrington spends it in the Family Video Store, and Eddie Munson is spending post-graduate life bothering him. And maybe Steve isn't as bothered as he used to be.

incredible, amazing, absolute god tier. if u also enjoy fics that feel like wrapping urself in a soft blanket straight from the dryer, then this is a must

open up your lovin’ arms (i want some, i want some) [7k, G] by oaseas

Dustin's concerned Steve's going to die alone. Steve's concerned Dustin won't ever understand the concept of boundaries.

Or: Dustin attempts to save Steve's love-life.

i love steve and dustin so much y’all. and eddie is too precious in this

*To Be Loved For No Reason At All [21k, T, WIP] by beetlesandstars

It all starts with Steve finding Eddie Munson in Alison Brown’s bathtub.

Or, how one night leads to a conversation, leads to shotgunning, leads to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, leads to confessions. Steve's just along for the ride.

absolutely wonderful. you’ve got soft vulnerable steve and insecure but precious eddie. love love love

sweetheart, will they ever find out? [2k, M] by ShipperTrash140109

He’s finally beside the nightstand, reaching for the jeans, when above him someone- Steve- grunts and inhales sharply, a soft, confused “Dustin? What are you doing?” In the doorway, Mike and Lucas slide away from view

“I’m looking for your keys,” Dustin whispers almost indecipherably in an attempt to be as quiet as possible.

“Who’re you talking to?” as if things couldn’t get worse, a deep voice pipes up from out of view, and Dustin realizes it’s the person in bed with Steve.

short, sweet, and hilarious

Hey Babe, Your Hair’s Alright (Hey Babe, Let’s Stay Out Tonight) [42k, T] by BowieBond

His bed was familiar, comfortable, warm. He never wanted to leave it. To face this town ever again.

So he just...didn’t get up.

He never imagined who would have the biggest problem with that decision to succumb.

----

After Eddie is humiliated at graduation by the town who still believes him to be the murderer, he breaks. He recluses.

Steve isn't taking his shit for a second, and he's not letting Eddie's fire burn out.

this one makes my heart hurt for poor eddie. good thing steve is there to take care of him!

*sub-culture [55k, T, WIP] by palmviolet

“Is he whining about Eddie being mean to him again?” Robin is leaning in the doorway, eating a leftover slice that’s probably cold by now. “You talk about him more than you talk about girls, Steve, it’s getting concerning. Anyone would think you had a crush.”

or, steve is pretty convinced eddie now hates him. turns out eddie has the opposite problem.

painful but sweet and hopeful too. also have i mentioned i love found family? so so much??

hot patootie [1k, M] by iwishiwasreal

"Jim couldn't help but groan as his headlights illuminated a maroon BMW.

Just like the car Steve Harrington drove nowadays."

Hopper finds Steve Harrington having a rendezvous in the backseat of his car with unexpected company.

this ones the second part of a series but u don’t have to read the first to understand. hopper pov but surprisingly sweet and funny

*four walls [2k, T] by shroooms

steve, eddie, and home

we need more wayne munson appreciation!! once again loving the found family vibes

*sir stephen strider finds his suzie [5k, G] by lesbianrobin

Dustin watches Eddie's face as everyone else giggles. He's retained his typical intimidating smirk for much of this encounter, but as Steve stumbles through his fictional seduction, Eddie's eyes soften. His smirk slowly turns to a small grin.

“Didn't Wizard Romeo and Juliet both die?” he asks, in that same low, grumbly voice he always loves to use for big scary bad guys. The effect is jarring.

“Well, yes, but… they loved each other first,” Steve says, oddly sincere. “I think love is worth the risk. Wouldn't you agree? And then, uh, I'm gonna take off my helmet and, like—” Steve tosses his hair, shaking it out dramatically and running a hand through it afterward to fix any wayward strands.

"Ew,” Mike says.

Nancy presses a hand over her mouth, but it does nothing to hide her smile. Usually, this is the point where Eddie would make them all roll initiative. Dustin has his D20 ready. But Eddie smiles. Eddie fucking smiles, and not in that maniacal way he does before siccing something horrific on them, he fucking beams, and says, "You're gonna scrape your neck on his mace doing that, just so you know."

this one is SO heartwarming. dustin centric but i love getting his pov. he clearly loves steve and eddie so so much and just wants the best for them. fantastic all around

*when you need me, call me (no matter where you are) [4k, T] by fivecenturiesverse

Steve isn't having the best time of it but he's trying to make time for his kids. Then everything goes to shit again. At least he gets a fugitive boyfriend out of it.

When it all starts happening again Steve mentally blames Tammy Thompson’s singing, probably woke Vecna up and he was all like “these people need to remember their favourite songs, because if that’s the musical talent in this town… boy are they fucked” or something along those lines. Or maybe he’s just feeling a little bit insane because he just saw Max — little Max with the red hair who scared him a little bit and saved him from Billy that one time — floating up in the sky like, like an angel. And he couldn’t do a thing but hope Max really, really likes Kate Bush.

found! family! steve is such a good mom in this one. i love his relationship with the kids and robin and how he just cares so so much. this ones kinda melancholy but i love it

luck couldn’t get any worse [4k, T] by anniebibananie

Eddie Munson has gum stuck in his hair. Steve is happy to help.

this one has no right to be this cute

*my name for you [12k, T] by kefisdemise

a small look into the development of steve and eddie's relationship through conversation and situation. or, five times eddie uses a nickname (read: pet name) for steve, and one time steve uses one for eddie.

i have SUCH a soft spot for pet names. love love love the progression of their relationship in this one, an absolute must read

*got to get you (into my life) [6k, M] by wayferette

Steve isn't willing to spend fifty dollars on drugs, and the only other person everyone is buying from just so happens to be the boy he'd been silently infatuated with for the past month.

Or: Steve gets high and confesses his feelings for Eddie

k. run don’t walk to read everything by this author. right now. this one in particular is just SO soft. such a sweet hs au where they each have embarrassing crushes on each other. i love it

While the walls come tumbling down [12k, T] by Thorinoakentwig

“You know I think about two-thirds of Hawkins High would claw my actual eyes out to have the Steve Harrington as their soulmate.” Eddie says thoughtfully and then waggles his eyebrows.

Steve laughs. “Two-thirds? Seems awfully low.”

(Or: Steve Harrington’s multi-year bisexual awakening, soulmate style)

full disclosure: i am not usually a fan of soulmate au’s. but this one??? was just plain wonderful, this author is amazing y’all

***darlin’ you give love (a bad name) [24k, E] by Thorinoakentwig

The first time he hears Dustin and Mike mention the name Eddie Munson he almost walks into a VHS display at work.

Steve wants to ask them how Eddie’s doing but then his face from that last party flashes into his head and he always clams up. If he was Eddie he’d want nothing to do with him and rightly so.

Instead Steve teasingly complains about how much time they spend with Eddie and that’s as far as it goes.

just. wow wow wow!! this one is absolutely precious

#i spent awhile putting this together pls validate me #stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things 4 #st fic #steddie #steveddie #steddie fic #steveddie fic #steddie fic rec #steveddie fic rec #ao3 fic rec #steve harrington #eddie munson #the fruity four #robin buckley #dustin henderson

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putawayurhalo · 2 years

Text

Out For Blood | Prologue: Blood Blister

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Munson!Reader ; Eddie Munson x Fem!Henderson!O.C.

Warnings: Strong language, No major season 4 spoilers but there will be through out the series, death, angst-y, horror content towards the end. SLOW BURN! ENEMIES TO LOVERS!

Word Count: 2k

Author’s Note: I got this done faster than I thought I would so here’s the prologue enjoy <3

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

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“Come on (Y/N) we should go to the pool and have fun in the sun.” Roxanne pleaded with her best friend as she laid on her bed looking at photos of movie stars in a magazine, legs kicking behind her as she twirled her hair, and music softly played on the radio.

(Y/N) shook her head, “We promised Jenny we’d meet her at the mall and we’d go when she got off work.”

“Ugh,” Roxanne groaned, “Why must she work? It’s not even fun! Being in the sun and swimming and looking at cute boys is fun!”

“Because, Roxy, not everyone is rich like you are. Besides, we can look at cute boys at the mall.” She responded as she picked out a swimsuit from Roxanne’s closet and tossed it at her, “This one, this one will attract you know who.”

“But (Y/N/N), you’re poor and you don’t work.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes in disbelief at the comment, “And the only cute boy you want to make sad little puppy eyes at is Steve Harrington, and sorry to break it to you, but he’s not even that cute… why don’t you try to go for Tommy Hagan? He and Carol broke up again, I’m sure you have a shot.” Roxanne spoke as she went into her bathroom.

“Roxy, if you keep suggesting Hagan to me I’m going to vomit. He’s not my type!” She shouted through the door. Roxanne had been trying to set up both (Y/N) and Jenny Henderson with Tommy since the moment she found out he was single just so she could have an in with Billy Hargrove.

“And what is your type? High school has-beens who’s best friend is our best friend’s fourteen year old brother?” Roxanne asked as she exited her bathroom, “Sounds pretty lame to me. But if you’re so dead set on ogling at Steve I’ll drop you off at the mall and I’ll go to the pool early to save you and Jenny spots.”

And that’s just what they did, Roxanne dropped (Y/N) off at the mall and went to the pool, spending the day flirting with Billy, as her two best friends spent an hour at the mall… or well they were supposed to. Jenny and (Y/N) had actually spent two hours at the mall, Jenny having helped Robin do inventory as (Y/N) stood at the counter talking to Steve and giggling at the lame jokes he’d tell her.

“Shit (Y/N), we gotta go.” Jenny grabbed her wrist as she ran out of Scoops.

“Bye Steve! Bye Robin!” The duo shouted as they ran, “Roxy is going to kill us.”

Though it wasn’t like Roxanne had even noticed they weren’t there. Her attention had fully been on Billy and when her two friends showed up she barely even glanced at them as she continued flirting with the lifeguard. Jenny and (Y/N) spent maybe thirty minutes before they watched Roxanne leave with Billy, the duo looking at each other and sighing.

The rest of the summer they hadn’t heard from her, just the occasional run in at the mall and quick hi and bye to each other, (Y/N) started spending her time with Jenny, Robin, and Steve, it had quickly become the best summer of her life. They had weekly movie nights at Jenny’s and it only took about the first movie night for Steve to start offering to drive (Y/N) to and from movie night, and who was she to say no to him, it was fifteen extra minutes to hang out with her crush and she’d be saving the five bucks she’d have used to bribe her brother with to get him to drive her. Those drives slowly turned to just hanging out by themselves, seeing movies alone, going to dinner together. The two were practically dating at this point, they just never put a label on it, so when Steve had asked if she wanted to go to the Hawkins Fun Fair of course she said yes.That’s why when Steve hadn’t showed up to pick her up on the fourth of July on time, despite always being five minutes early to pick her up every time before, she got increasingly more nervous as each minute passed.

“(Y/N), are you sure he’s even showing up?” Her brother asked as she sat watching out the window looking for the infamous BMW 733i to pull up to the trailer.

“He always shows up, Eddie, he’s probably just running a little late, he did have to work today.” She replied, messing with the hem of her sundress. She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall and saw it read nine o’clock and she sighed.

“He’s never late, (Y/N/N)...” Eddie gave his sister a sympathetic look as she got up from where she sat and made her way to her room. She began to take her makeup off, aggressively wiping her face as she cried trying to ignore how she felt inside. As she had finished, she looked over at her wall and saw two photo strips hanging together one of her and Steve and the other of her, Jenny, Robin, and Steve. Both strips taken a week prior at the mall, Robin, Jenny and Steve in their Scoops Ahoy outfits and (Y/N) sporting Steve’s sailor hat in both sets so she didn’t feel so out of place. Her eyes trailed to the left of them where a Polaroid of her, Jenny, and Roxanne from the last day of school hung; she quickly left the room and went to the phone, dialing Roxanne’s number and calling.

She waited about a minute before someone answered, “Anderson residence.”

“Hey, Mrs. Anderson, it’s (Y/N), is Roxanne there?” She asked, twirling the cord.

“Oh honey, we haven’t seen her in a few days, we thought she was with you or Jenny.” Mrs. Anderson spoke, worry etched in her voice.

“Oh…” (Y/N) trailed off, “I’m sure she’s with Tammy or Carol, Mrs. Anderson, she’s been spending a lot of time with them recently.” She lied through her teeth, “Thank you anyways, Mrs. Anderson, have a good night.” She quickly hung the phone back up and turned to see Eddie standing in the entrance of the hallway.

“You going to call Harrington? Or do I need to do it for you?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head, “Just leave it alone Eddie.” She pushed past him, “I’m sure he has a logical explanation for forgetting.”

To which Steve did and so did Robin and Jenny, they just weren’t allowed to tell her. Jenny and Robin came to visit you the next day as the news of the mall fire spread across Hawkins and Roxanne’s name was on the list of victims, and even though Robin had left after (Y/N) had passed out from her hours of crying she still did more than Steve had done.

“Eddie, if anything happens to her, call me.” Jenny told him as she was getting ready to leave.

“867-5309, right?” Eddie smirked.

She rolled her eyes, “Haha, so original.” Sarcasm laced in her tone, “Goodnight, Munson.”

“Goodnight Henderson,” He started as he followed her to the door holding it open for her, “Drive safe.” Jenny raised an eyebrow at him, “Don’t look at me like that, I don’t need (Y/N) crying more than she already is.”

Jenny scoffed, “Whatever you say, Eddie, we both know you have a fat crush on me.” She teased before opening her car’s door, “Seriously though, if anything happens call me.” She told him one last time before hopping into her car and driving off.

As Eddie closed the door the phone started ringing, “Munson.” He answered.

“Eddie, it’s Steve.”

Eddie scoffed, “You better have a good excuse for not only standing my sister up yesterday but not showing up today, Harrington.”

“Eddie, lis-”

“No you listen Harrington, I have spent all day watching her cry over the loss of one of her best friends and even when not only Jenny but Robin were here she still would glance over at the phone and out the window in hopes your stupid ass would show up and cheer her up.” Eddie was so focused on getting his point across to Steve that he hadn’t even noticed his sister had woken up and walked over to him.

She snatched the phone from him, “Steve, take your bullshit excuse and whatever wack apology you’re going to pull out your ass and shove it. Lose my number while you’re at it.” She hung the phone up and walked into her room, slamming the door behind her.

A few minutes went by before the phone rang again, “Steve?” Eddie answered it again.

“Yeah?” Eddie could hear the sorrow in the other boy’s voice.

“Give her a few days, apologize then… I’ve only seen her like this one other time, she just needs a few days to cool off.”

A few days turned into almost three fourths of a year, she had ignored every phone call, ignored the knocks on her door. She even had Robin and Jenny tell him to stop, which he eventually did but only after leaving her a small box by the door. Inside the box were two items, a mix tape of her favorite songs and a copy of George Orwell’s 1984, she smiled slightly as she looked at the items before she set them in her room.

The phone started to ring, (Y/N) turned out of her room and answered, “Hello?”

“It’s your fault our daughter died, (Y/N).” The voice was slightly distorted.

“I’m sorry, who is this?” She asked, looking around.

“Roxanne died because of you. Because you weren’t there to protect her, you were off spending your time with a boy. A boy who never really liked you.” The voice said.

“What? Is this a prank? This isn’t funny Dustin!” She frantically spoke.

“YOU DID THIS! YOU DID THIS! YOU DID THIS!” The voice repeated and got louder, she hung the phone up but the voice continued.

The room got dark as she covered her ears and tears flowing down her face,”Eddie? Eddie!” She called out as she turned around and was met with the corpse of Roxanne.

“You did this, (Y/N)! This is all your fault! I’m dead and it’s your fault!” The corpse spoke and (Y/N) screamed.

“(Y/N)! (Y/N), wake up! (Y/N) WAKE UP!” Eddie shouted as he shook her awake. Her eyes shot up and she gasped for air, “Shh, shh, I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” Eddie whispered to her as he rubbed her back and she cried into his shoulder.

They sat like that for a few minutes, “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked her, she shook her head, “I’m going to press play on the mix tape okay?”

She nodded, as she watched her brother get up and press play, “What did I do wrong?” she whispered, Eddie barely heard her. “Did I deserve it?”

“(Y/N/N), you did nothing wrong and you don’t deserve any of the hurt you’re holding onto.” Eddie replied, “Understood?”

She hummed as the songs played, “It’s just I watch her die when I close my eyes and I can still hear voice as if she was still alive, Ed, even when I’m awake…” she trailed off, “Maybe I’m just overwhelmed… I just need to relax a little.” She said before laying back down and she kept repeating the last line.

Eddie nodded before exiting her room and making his way to the phone, he waited as it rang on the other line, “Hello?”

“Jenny, the nightmares are back.” Eddie tells her.

“I just need to relax a little… I just need to relax a little…” (Y/N) kept repeating as she dozed back off to sleep.

Taglist (is open for now) : @preciousbabypeter @honeymunson

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington series #steve harrington fic #steve harrington imagine #kers writes

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