”I love him” CUTE

Not sure if this theory makes any sense at all but I'm starting to believe that there's no time skip between Wally's phone calls and what we see/hear in the show's Media/Merchandise. If we see the Toyland call being made before the Homewarming episode then it would make sense that Wally's expecting Barnaby to come over soon. As well as the Homewarming sketch from the prior update. (I don't know, still kind of brainstorming this perspective)

that theory Does make sense and i've been considering it! the "timeline" is such a nebulous thing right now because we still... don't really know! there are too many variables and too many Maybes for any solid answer.

maybe the reality that the neighbors live in exists outside of time like you say, and like half of me suspects. there's so much reality fuckery already present, but I'm also... unsure of how much merit this holds given what we know / can infer about how time passes in Home. i'm putting this theory on a low shelf to look at but not prioritize

maybe it really has been 50 years, and Barnaby is either still around / Wally is still in contact with him, or Barnaby... isn't there. who knows, maybe Wally was just verbalizing some Wishful Thinking. i mean, Wally is a bit of an unreliable narrator, isn't he? we can't assume that everything he says is entirely accurate or truthful. and i mean, if it's been 50 years it makes sense that Wally would be pushing for connection / to revive WH. who knows how long he's been trying.

hm... i mean. it could be a mix of that and the Outside Of Time theory. who knows, maybe W is receiving calls from different points in the timeline - Wally may have started out just calling, and has just graduated to invading the WH website / getting pushy with the envelopes and media that's been sent to the WHRP. maybe Wally got tired of waiting for W to respond before W was even born. who's to say!

What If Steve Were To Leave Hawkins? Part 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I wasn't originally going to write about Dustin's reaction but @doubleb11 gave me the idea. I hope it meets your expectations! We go back to Steve's POV in Chicago in the next part. Thank you again for everyone's nice comments!

~*~*~*~

It was no secret that Dustin was struggling. He tried to remain hopeful and upbeat but his insecurities made maintaining a positive attitude difficult. Why would Steve leave? He had promised that he would always be there for Dustin. But so had his deceased grandparents and his dad that left without so much as a goodbye. 

The common denominator had to be Dustin. He knew that he was too sarcastic, too smart to be relatable, and kind of annoying. But he thought Steve understood. He’s always had trouble connecting with people but he thought that Steve was a lifelong friend, an older brother, if you will, that would never drift away. Since the time Steve gave him poor dating advice while looking for Dart, they had been best friends. So why would he leave?

Looking back, he could see why Steve might have underestimated his own importance to the Party. All of its members were a bit emotionally repressed and didn’t know how to talk about their feelings. They all tended to show their love through acts of service or quality time instead of words of affirmation. They did show their love and he thought Steve understood their feelings. But still, if Steve needed verbal validation, he didn’t get any. And Dustin had been a bit too preoccupied talking to Suzie to spend time with him, instead using the excuse of needing a ride to get in his regular amount of ‘Steve-time’. Regardless of his reasons, he felt guilty and useless when it came to searching for the older boy. 

It had been a mere two days since they had all found out about Steve’s leave and it was already affecting Dustin. When he wasn’t pretending to be okay, throwing a tantrum, or worrying about Steve’s well-being, he was ignoring the glances cast in his direction by the other Party members. Eddie had given him a ride to Mike’s for DnD and had tried to ask how he was doing. Dustin pretended to not hear the question and thanked him for the ride. Lucas had asked him if Steve had reached out yet. No, why would he? Dustin probably caused him to leave. Max and El asked if he was alright since he was quieter than usual. No, stop talking to him. Mike and Will avoided asking him questions but their concerned gazes were just as annoying. He was fine. 

Who cares that his pseudo-older brother left without talking to him just like his deadbeat dad? Not him. 

Joyce gave him a ride home from Mike’s when she picked up Will. She assured him that Hopper was doing everything he could to find Steve and that they’d have him home in no time. Dustin couldn’t find it himself to believe her. He just thanked her for the ride and made his way inside. He just wanted a night alone without anyone checking on him or bringing up Steve.

His mom was waiting for him in the kitchen and gave him a gentle smile when he walked in. “How was your game, Dusty?”

Dustin sighed. He wasn't in the mood to talk but his mom wasn’t aware of the situation and she certainly didn’t deserve any of his snark. “Hi mom, it was fun. Will is DM’ing again and Eddie has been giving him pointers. He was ruthless today.”

She hummed and pinched his cheek when she handed him the plate she had saved him from dinner. “Oh goodness, I almost forgot! Your friend Steve called to talk to you. I told him that you were with Mike today. He didn’t leave a message but you might want to call him later, okay Dusty? He sounded a little strange.”

“STEVE CALLED?” Dustin practically screamed as he whipped around in his seat, the bread roll propelling from his hand into a kitchen cabinet. 

His mother looked slightly alarmed but also woefully accustomed to his flamboyant antics. “Yes, Dusty. Don’t throw food, what did that dinner roll ever do to you?”

Dustin’s eyes rolled hard. “I’m sorry. You said Steve called? What did he say? Was he okay? Was he in distress?”

“No, he sounded a bit tired but that’s our Steve. He just asked for you and didn’t have a message to leave once I told him you were out. He will probably call back sometime later tonight or tomorrow sometime.”

Dustin felt his eyes fill with tears and his bottom lip started to quiver. Steve had tried to talk to him and he wasn’t there. What if he was hurt or in danger and Dustin was too busy playing make-believe to take his call? He would never forgive himself.

“Dusty? Oh no, honey! What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” His mother fretted over him and her concern is what pushed him over the edge. 

Dustin burst into big, fat, ugly tears. He sobbed into his mother’s embrace and cried out his feelings of worry, sadness, and angered abandonment. His mom cooed over him and pet her hand through his unstyled curls until he found the strength to speak.

“Mom, Steve left. He just left Hawkins without telling anyone. He’s missing and we don’t know how to find him! And now he called and I wasn’t there! What if he’s hurt and he called me to help him? He left because I was a bad friend and now he’s gone! We can’t even find a way to bring him back.” Dustin wailed through sullied tears. 

Claudia whispered words of comfort and encouragement as she held her sad boy in her arms. “Dusty, he sounded fine. I’m sure he was just calling to check in on you and tell you where he is. I don’t know why he would leave so suddenly but I doubt it was because of you, Dusty.”

“No mom, it was me! He’s been distant and sad for weeks and I told the Party to give him space. Me! I said that. I told them to leave him alone and no one checked in on him. I never even told him what he meant to me. What if he never comes back, mom? He’ll never know how much we love him!”

Claudia was confused with this whole situation. She’s known Steve for nearly three years now and has been nothing but impressed by the older boy. He helped her care for her little Dusty while she was at work or her book clubs. Steve didn’t have a selfish bone in his body, always refusing to take her money for babysitting and relinquishing his free time to drive her admittedly needy son around. It doesn’t make any sense for Steve to abandon the kids he helped raise, the kids who counted on him a fair amount, to leave town out of nowhere. The young man that she knew would never knowingly cause such distress in her little Dusty or his friends. 

“Dusty, I think Steve is dealing with something beyond you or the rest of your friends. He might need some time to work on it but he will be back and he knows how much he means to you. Just give him time. He called today and the next time he calls, I’ll take a message. Alright? Everything will be fine.”

God, he hoped his mom was right about this. Dustin did feel better at her words but there was still a seed of doubt in his mind. Unfortunately, there was nothing else he could do about the situation until Hopper tracked Steve down or until Steve reached out again. For now, he would wait for his best friend to call again and alert the Party to give them the update. For now, he would have hope. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20: Epilogue

Taglist:@nickavalens@conversesweetheart@themostunoriginalpersonever@swimmingbirdrunningrock@eddiethegreatteddybear @call-me-big-eyes @cornwallisandkerley @moonshadows-13 @glittergluekintsugi @cpidcupk @doubleb11 @mentalcyborg @amoris-no-smut-allowed @purple-lemonade @labels-are-for-the-weak @thebrazilianatheist @rajumat @livelaughlexa @5ammi90 @colorful565 @marvelousforlife @chaoticcoffeequeen @gregre369 @suddenlyinlove@thegreatmistake @stillfullofshit @nburkhardt @batxsignalsx @newunknowns @thosemessyvibes @tailsfromthecrypt@luciana-rowan @bird-with-pencils @adaed5 @lolawon @flustratedcas @iwillfindmyneverland @messrs-weasley @skoomy-doompy @yearningagain @darkwitchoferie @forest-fogg @bitchysunflower @stardust-era @newtstabber@bobatrash-queen @notjasontxdd

“Even in the end, he never stopped being Eddie. Despite everything. I never even saw him get mad”

eddie just needs someone to look him dead in the face and say "you're gay" in a monotone voice and I think it should be chim

listen to me, he's been making comments abt buck, acting jealous as fuck, looking at him like he's hung on the moon and so one day chim just breaks and goes "so when the hell are you gonna ask buck out?" and eddie starts looking around bc why tf would chim be talking to him but no one else is there so he points at himself and goes "m-me?" and chim's like "no eddie, the fridge, yes you. when are you gonna ask him out" and eddie goes "I'm not???? I don't feel that way??? I'm straight???" and chim's like "well how DO you feel abt buck?" and eddie just talks abt how buck's his best friend and he doesn't trust anyone more than buck and how he wants to be a part of his life forever and that he doesn't like it when buck dates other people bc then he spends less time with eddie and chris and chim is looking at him with a slightly teasing smile on his face and goes "and do you want to hold his haaaand? maybe give him a little kiss 👀👀" and eddie blushes and groans and then goes "maybe? what does that mean? I didn't even feel this way about shannon" and chim is more serious now and says "you wanna know what it means?" and eddie nods and chim looks him right in the eyes and goes "you're gay" and eddies just sitting there for a few seconds and then he brings a hand up to his face and goes "ah man. you're right" and chim pats his shoulder and goes "you know we love you right? all of us? this doesn't change anything. well, hen might love you MORE if you come out but that's just how she is I think" and eddie nods and chin goes "hey man, you're my family, and I'm here for you if you need it" and eddie nods and says "thanks, it means a lot"

Yeah my brain is having all sorts of thoughts over Pepa meddling in Eddie’s dating life after Margaret brought Buck a new couch that doesn’t fit (and is going to meet a bad ending) and the fever dream that was Buck on Eddies couch and a new kitchen scene in 6x12

In an episode called performance anxiety and after whatever the poker thing turns out to be and the couch of it all

I am squeeing over it so hard!!

alright who tf is running the stranger things twitter acc

Can we talk about Argyle and Eddie? Like... those two would have been the best of bros? Chrissy would know that they wouldn’t be going anywhere when Argyle would show up. All Eddie and him would do would be smoke weed, watch movies, listen to music. UNTIL EDDIE IS LIKE, “Yo. Want to know about DnD?” Argyle is just, sure bruh! What’s this dnd brochaco? 

Argyle’s mind would be fucking blown! Like, Eddie breaks out all his DnD books, campaigns etc. By time Chrissy comes home from school/work, they are elbows deep in character creating. Argyle... is lost in the DnD sauce! 

“So like, you mean... I could be a bong wizard? Shoot weed smoke out my hands? Woooooah! That’s rad!” 

I wish Argyle and Eddie could have met, they’d been bros. 

Imagine Joe really has no clue but is gaslighting the Duffers to bring Eddie back because with every single one of his cheeky grins the fandom becomes more and more certain that Eddie will return and now the Duffers have to bring him back because else there will be RIOTS😂😂

this will either be the most inaccurate, shot-in-the-dark, completely nothing prediction I've ever made, or it'll be my most big-brained, apollo's-gift-of-prophecy, kissing-the-writers-on-the-mouths speculation yet, but i gotta place my bets before the speculation window closes, so:

calling it right now, i think Buck's gonna get blown up/be injured in an explosion at the very end of 6A/start of 6B, and that's what will lead to buddie canon. also this is how coma buck can still win

i really don't mind st*ddie and i do read it but i won't pretend i don't kind of resent the way it's made the stoncy ao3 tag almost exclusively porn and hard AUs like i miss when the steve ship that everyone who also hated the racist guy was writing good plot heavy fic about was the one i was rabid about 😔

sigh i miss my man

“Eddie was a doomed character” and why I resent that comment almost more than the nonsensical death they wrote

So I’m not actively in the fandom but my favorite band is GNR and specifically Axl Rose’s (basically solo album, let’s not get into technicalities) Chinese Democracy has helped me through a lot of shit in my life.

Now Axl is a controversial figure (to put it mildly) but in recent years he’s been doing much better and definitely found his peace which like I said as a long time fan gives me both hope for myself but also makes me happy… I saw them on this tour and they’re all just so happy to be performing it’s been the best thing ever!

Anyhow long story short:

Axl too was a delinquent in rural Indiana. (He got arrested a bunch, his family was a nightmare, it wasn’t pretty) He didn’t graduate High school but he had a talent: he had (and despite occasional voice problems now that he’s older especially on the most recent tour) still has one of the biggest vocal ranges: 5 octaves and 5 semitones!!

Him and a friend (Izzy stradlin) struggled in indiana a bit and eventually managed to make their way to the strip in LA and made rock history.

The parallels with Eddie are right in your face. And Axl is by far not the only rockstar with this sort of history. I could have picked any other rockstar, he just happens to be one of my favs.

i understand the duffers only had Eddie play master of puppets because “wouldn’t that be cool?” Because they clearly don’t do much more than surface level writing (sorry it’s true) but that in effect makes him a genius on the guitar. He learnt that song by ear in less than three weeks!!!

If he had made it to the strip, he would have been right there with Those boys from GNR and others vying for record deals and any band would have killed to have a guitarist of his caliber in their lineup.

So when the Duffers claim our boy had no future, they’re only saying that because they had created him to be cannon fodder and they could not look past their own prejudices. It’s callous and classist.

In conclusion: they better bring him back and do my poor baby boy right!

I find amazing that we got literally crumbs of Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson today and he's trending again. Great job, guys

My spirit animal