#and I’m sure there ARE Nancy fans who want her with Steve | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

madelynraemunson · 2 months

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CALL ME WHAT YOU WANT 𓆩♡𓆪

(Book #1 of the Hellfire Gentlemen’s Club series)

strip club owner!eddie x fem!exotic dancer!hargrove!reader

𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐀𝐔 18+ MDNI

Chapter 018: Murphy's Law

You’re only against a handful of things. Of course, the one time you go to bed angry, shit hits the fan.

↳ chapters: 001, 002*, 003** , 004**, 005 , 006 , 007* , 008**, 009, 010, 011, 012* , 013**, 014** , 015, 016**, 017, 018, 019, 020*

* = somewhat smutty chapters ** = smut chapters

author's note: 2/23/2024 — i don't want you guys to suffer too much, so the last two chapters will be released tomorrow 2/24/2024. i love you guys, thank you for tuning in ♥️

CW: i don't wanna spoil anything, so this whole chapter is a trigger warning. please be mindful of this before reading; ps thank you to @freckledjoes for letting me use this picture of barron/"steve"

word count: 1.3k words

♡

“I’m Natalia, who are you?”

“I’m...Shy Girl,” you narrow your eyes. “My boyfriend Eddie lives here.”

You've never been good at math. But it doesn't take putting 2 and 2 together to realize that — the car in Eddie's spot this morning — belongs to the Nancy look-alike in front of you.

And if you looked too fast, you would've thought that she WAS Nancy. But the strapless tube top, lettuce-trim booty shorts, and lacy black tights on a cold December morning rule out that possibility.

Your eyes trail over to Steve in the background, frantic and sweaty, hairy chest out on display as he shuffles around to find a shirt to throw on. You clear your throat, meeting Natalia’s blue eyes one more time before speaking again.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Oh no girl, you're fine!" the busty brunette chirps, when she realizes you're no longer a threat to her. "I was just heading out. I guess his roomie is going to be back any second now."

Doing your best to conceal your laughter, you step off to the side to allow Steve's booty call to get her things and scoot out the door. Steve watches awkwardly, leaning against the doorway and flashing Natalia a smile as he watches her get to her car safely.

You wait until she’s out of earshot to speak to him.

“Natalia.” you sing with a smirk. “Really?”

“Don’t make that face.”

“What face?”

“The one you’re making right now, Hargrove. Don’t start.”

Your eyes venture down to the faint bite marks on Steve’s neck. You turn around to look at the doppelgänger one last time, giving her a wave as she drives away.

“Not starting anything,” you insist. “I just think it’s funny.”

He knows what you’re thinking and it doesn’t help his case. Steve steps off to the side, inviting you in. After closing the door behind you, Harrington gestures towards the box in your hand.

“Whatchu got there?”

“Apology cupcakes for Eddie,” you explain. “I was a real bitch to him yesterday so I decided to bake him something to compensate.”

You spent all night guilt-baking, hoping to win Eddie back with the cute vanilla cupcakes topped with sad red frowns on them, followed by a homemade card that reads, "I'm sorry for pushing you against the wall". Expecting Steve to find it adorable, he offers you a rather confused reaction instead.

"…Eddie didn’t stay over last night?” he asks with a cocked brow.

Your heart sinks.

“No… I thought he came straight here after Wayne’s.”

“Well obviously he didn’t,” Steve says. “Hence why I had Nat spend the night.”

“Well do you think he’s at Dustin’s?”

“I’m not sure, I haven’t spoken to the guy since yesterday morning.”

Something's off. Immediately rushing to the living room, you set the cupcakes down so you can call Wayne. It rings a few times but Eddie's uncle doesn’t pick up.

"Wayne's not picking up."

“That’s odd,” Steve gulps. “He almost always does.”

So you go to message Eddie. It's a simple text, Where are you? Straight to the point. To your complete shock, your usual blue text bubbles turn green. Eddie's phone is off. What the hell?

So you go to call him next. It doesn't hurt to try. But then your knees start to buckle when you're immediately directed to an automated voicemail box.

“We’re sorry. Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please try again later.”

The room is as frostbitten as the air outside. Steve senses abrupt energy shift.

You scroll nervously through your phone. The next person to contact is Dustin. Outside of his friendship with Steve, he is the next person closest to Eddie. But Curly doesn't pick up either.

"Oh god," you feel the color rushing from your face.

"Hargrove, i-it's okay," Steve attempts. "He's probably with Jeff or Gareth or Grant or somethin', o-okay? Let's not jump to conclusions."

He rests a warm hand atop your arm, grounding you back down to earth. You turn to him with worry. He rubs your back to comfort you.

"Eddie would never do anything to hurt himself on purpose," Steve assures you. "I can promise you that much. Don't let your mind go there."

"Okay," you exhale.

"But he is stupid though," Steve adds. "So, to be safe, we should probably check the hospital. Or urgent care. Dude probably cucked his ankle again."

And with that, you two set off to Hawkins Memorial on the other side of town.

The icy roads seem to draw on for miles as Steve drives. And you had no desire to explore the vastness of Roane County, for as long as Eddie isn’t there waiting for you at whatever coordinate the wind blows you to next.

Tapping your feet anxiously on the floor, you click your phone on and off again to see whether or not a message from Eddie pops up. It’s the same outcome every time.

Steve’s gentle hand rests on top of your trembling ones once again. He gives you a soft pat.

“It’ll all be okay, Shy Girl,” he says to you. “Promise.”

Thankfully, hospital parking is almost immediate. Booking it to the emergency department now, you and Steve rush to get to the front of the line to speak to the receptionist. When it's finally your turn, she greets you rather stoically.

“Can I help you?”

Without violating HIPAA?

“I sure hope so,” you sigh. “This is a wellness check. Do you guys maybe have a Munson admitted here?”

“Munson…” the last name marinates on the lady’s tongue almost as if she’s familiar with it. You wouldn’t doubt it. Wayne’s a frequent flyer due to the cancer and Hawkins is quite literally a speck of dust on the map.

You try to help her. “Maybe an Eddie…Edward… or quite possibly a Wayne…”

“Quite possibly a Wayne?” the lukewarm secretary echos you.

“Yes!” you hiss urgently. “Or maybe a John Doe? A guy in his late twenties, early thirties... This person most likely came in yesterday afternoon, night, or maybe even this morning. He has brown hai-"

“Shy Girl…” comes a voice behind you.

It’s one of the Munsons you’re looking for. But to your surprise, not the one you were expecting.

"Wayne..." you breathe.

In front of you is Eddie's uncle, sitting in his wheelchair evidently a bawling mess. If he’s here and Eddie’s not, it can only mean one thing.

Your throat tightens and you struggle to speak. A thin veil of tears gloss over your eyes, your fingertips essentially frozen now as the sterile white building closes up around you.

“Wayne…” you say again. “What happened?”

His uncle sniffs, drawing out uneven breaths as he tries to calm down, nose an irritable red to match his glassy, sleep-deprived eyes.

“There’s... been an accident,” he chokes. “They T-boned him. Van is totaled.”

That van. That stupid fucking van you’ve told Eddie time and time again to get rid of.

“Wayne," Steve interrogates. "Who drove you here?”

“The Henderson boy.”

You can't take it anymore.

“Where is he?!” you demand. “And why aren’t you with him, Wayne?! WHERE IS EDDIE?”

“Doctors won’t tell me nothin'!” Wayne blubbers, his voice cracking like a helpless child. “But as someone whose second home is the hospital, I know what that means.”

The three of you take this time to cry. You instantly collapse into Steve's arms. He embraces you tight, dragging you off to the side so the people who were waiting behind you could be helped next.

Nothing matters anymore, you think to yourself. This is what you get for going to bed angry. The one time. The one time. And as the three of you start to gather yourselves again — rather slowly — Wayne speaks once more... uttering a belief that you've already come to terms with. Something that you already know.

“It’s not looking good for Eddie.”

🏷️ tag list: @chrrymunson , @the-fairy-anon , @ali-r3n , @corrodedcoffincumslut , @bebe07011 , @mmunson86 , @eddiesguitarskills , @chelebelletx , @imonhereforareasonsadly , @eddies-trailer-babe @motherfckerr , @jxpsi , @sidthedollface2 , @manda-panda-monium , @elvendria , @micheledawn1975 , @hereforshmut , @siriuslysmoking , @mediocredreams @nymphetkoo , @m-chmcl-rmnc , @ahoyyharrington , @keepittoyourselftellnobodyelse @kellyxo1 @emsgoodthinkin @winchester-angel @chloe-6123 , @redbarn1995 @angietherose @kiyastrf94 , @purplewitchcauldron @kellsck @joyfulfxckery @munsons-mayhem28 @dragonfire @emma77645 @drivelikenina @livosssblog @thinkingth0ts @hugdealer @ellielunamckay @xblueriddlex @maskofmirrors @babyloutattoo89 @queenofhawkins

oh yeah, song of the chapter is...

side note: s/o to DR. bridgit mendler, the irl barbie

#eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #strip club owner!eddie #stripper!reader #eddie munson angst #boyfriend!eddie munson #wayne munson #steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #joseph quinn #joe quinn #Spotify

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marie-swriting · 4 months

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The Slut Of Hawkins - Steve Harrington [1/2]

Emails I Can't Send Masterlist

Stranger Things Masterlist

Part two

Part one - two (French version)

Summary : You're paying for the consequences of dating Steve Harrington.

Warnings : italics are for flashbacks, Slutshaming, school bullying (reader getting bullied) (talk to someone if you're being bullied!), implied sex, Steve is a bit of a coward, bad relationship with parents, angst, sad ending, fighting.

Word count : 3.5k

Song inspiration : Because I Liked A Boy by Sabrina Carpenter

The laughs were filling the fresh air of the early night. Laying on your backyard trampoline, you were cuddling against Steve. You had been getting closer recently and you had to admit, it made you feel good to have someone to talk to, especially when your parents weren’t there - which was pretty often, that night was another proof.

Steve held you a bit tighter in his arms while you were talking about your favourite singers. You had said some names like Madonna, Bowie though, it was the mention of The Beatles that caught his attention.

“The album Help! is definitely my favourite.” Steve informed you.

“Same for me, I love all of the songs but You’re Going To Lose That Girl and It’s Only Love have a special place in my heart.” you said whilst Steve looked away. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just that It’s Only Love was our song, to me and Nancy.”

“You really loved her, didn’t you?”

“She was my first love. Unfortunately, it ended pretty badly. It became complicated after her best friend Barbara disappeared. Besides, I have to admit, I was at fault, too but I’m trying to be better.”

“I’m sure you will.” you affirmed hugging him a bit more against you. “You’re not the same Steve you used to be. We wouldn’t be here, otherwise. You’re a good person, Steve, don’t doubt it for a second.”

“Thanks for what you just said.” Steve smiled at you.

“Anyway, what do you think of I Need You?”

“Not really my favourite.”

“Steve Harrington, I am appalled! How dare you say this kind of stuff?” you exclaim, faking shock.

“You asked for my opinion.”

“And you were supposed to agree with me.”

“I don’t like it, it’s not my fault.”

“You just don’t get this song. You’ll see, you’ll be a fan of it one day, I’ll make sure of it.” you stated looking at him right in the eyes.

“I’m dying to see that.”

Your lips were only a few inches away. You didn’t dare to make the first step, even if you were dying to, you were too afraid to have read too much in between the lines. You liked Steve a lot, but you weren’t sure he wanted the same thing. Steve looked at you with stars and tenderness in his eyes, yours were quite similar. You both were waiting to see which one would bend first. Steve was the one who ended up breaking the inches by pressing his lips against yours. Your lips were moving slowly, taking in this innocent moment of the beginning of your relationship.

Now, the innocence is gone. Once you close your locker door, the word “slut” is written in big letters, reminding you of the price you had to pay for this moment. Who knew cuddling on trampolines could be so reckless?

Far away, Steve is watching you. However, the second you turn your head toward him, he looks down and goes in the opposite direction. It’s been the same thing for a month. You are called names and Steve turns a blind eye. You are accused of being a homewrecker and Steve receives sympathy for the pain you supposedly caused him.

During the day, you keep your head low, not wanting to draw more attention to you. Unfortunately, the insults just like the degrading pieces of paper keep coming your way. The only moment of peace you have is during lunchtime.

At first, you hid in the bathroom then you ended up running into some girls who made you understand they weren’t on your side so you went to find a safe place in the janitor closet. At least, no one can bother you there. You don’t like the way you accepted the bullying however every time you tried to explain the situation, no one listened to you. So, now, you don’t say anything and you let people tell you who you are, hoping this story will end soon.

In the afternoon, you have chemistry. As you got used to the past month, you sit at the end of the class, wanting to be far away from your classmates' judging look. You do your best to stay focused on the lesson but you have to admit since the beginning of the rumours, your grades have been falling. You keep your energy to survive the comments so you don’t have enough of it to keep your grades high.

While you finish writing what Mr. Kaminski just said, he announces you’ll work in pairs. Right away, your stomach twists and you want to throw up. You can’t work in pairs. You’ve never been a fan of group projects however now you hate it; it’s an open door to being called names nonstop for a whole hour. The teacher informs he’s already made the groups before saying them out loud. Like a convicted person, you wait for him to say your name. You’re part of the last group and you’re with Tucker Walker. At the mention of his name, you want to die. He’s part of the basketball team and he’s entitled. You don’t like him. You try to negotiate with your teacher to work alone but he insists.

“Come here, Y/L/N, I’m not gonna eat you.” Tucker laughs.

Reluctantly, you gather your stuff and go to his desk. You put as much distance as possible, wanting to avoid new rumours.

“I’m going to do the whole exercise and I’ll put your name on the sheet like this, you’ll have nothing to do.” you announce while starting to read what you have to do.

“Who said I didn’t want to work with you?”

“I don’t want to work with you.” you specify. “Now, do something else and let me work.”

“On the contrary, I’m sure I can be useful.” he contradicts, putting his hand on your knee.

“Take your hand off.” you say through gritting teeth.

“What?”

“Your hand. I don’t like you and if I’m not mistaken, you’re with someone.”

“It didn’t stop you with Harrington.” he says before leaning in. “You can meet me behind school later.”

“No.”

“You don’t have to play hard-to-get because we’re in class.”

“I’m not playing hard-to-get, I just don’t like you.” you repeat, trying to stay calm.

“That's what you say now.”

By some luck, Tucker takes his hand off and lets you work. You’re surprised to see him give up so easily. You know it’s hiding something else, from now on, you have to avoid him.

You finish the work sheet the same second the bell rings at the end of the class. You pack your stuff quickly and give the sheet to your teacher before leaving the room. Tucker doesn’t follow, allowing you to sigh in relief.

Walking by your locker, you discover the insult is gone. It’s one of the positive things with the janitor, he always erases the insults right away. Though, no matter how many times he erases them, he’s never reported it to the principal, leaving you on your own with the high schooler venom.

The moment you leave school, you walk to your car when you get stopped in your tracks. In front of you, there are four girls, Jessica - Tucker’s girlfriend - included. You try to not show anything, mentally preparing yourself for what she’s going to tell you.

“What makes you think you can hit on Tucker, my boyfriend?” she asks drily, “Being his chemistry partner and telling him to meet you behind school? That’s where you were going, weren’t you? He’s not coming. Unlike Steve, he won’t let the slut of Hawkins destroy our relationship.” Jessica affirms, you’re about to answer when she beats you to it. “Don’t even try to deny it, Tucker told me and Sarah heard you!”

“Well, she can’t hear correctly then and your boyfriend is lying. Tucker is the one who hit on me and I stopped him. He put his hand on my knee and told me to meet him behind school.” you retort, annoyed.

“You think I’m gonna believe you over my boyfriend and my best friend?”

“I know you’re not going to believe me. It’s so much easier to believe your boyfriend who tells you what you want to hear rather than the girl who shows you the true colour of your boyfriend. Don’t be too disappointed the day you’ll discover he’s cheated on you, if he hasn’t done it already.” you state with a fake smile.

“Take that back.”

“Why ? Everyone knows he’s a cheater.”

“He’s different with me.” Jessica insists and you shake your head.

“That's what he wants you to believe but the truth is, he’s sleeping around while keeping you under his hat.”

The sound of the slap resonates in the school parking lot. You look at Jessica with eyes wide open whilst you’re touching your cheek. For you, that’s your last straw, you answer to her attack by pulling at her hair. Jessica’s scream alerts the adults around while her friends try to separate you two. You keep giving her a piece of your mind when two arms wrap themselves around your body and gets you away from Jessica. Being separated doesn’t stop both of you from insulting one another and trying to go for the throat again until Mister Jenkins arrives.

“That’s enough! What is going on here?”

“She attacked me!” Jessica lies, pointing at you.

“What? You’re the one who slapped me first.”

“She’s lying, we saw her, sir!” a friend of Jessica adds.

“They’re lying, Jessica did hit her first.”

Looking behind you, you discover the one who is holding you back and who is defending you is none other than Eddie Munson. You didn’t even see he was around and you certainly didn’t expect him to defend you.

“Are you seriously going to believe what Munson is saying?” Jessica questions, faking tears. “He’s always against us! He’d say anything to get us in trouble. I’m the victim here-”

“You’re talking nonsense, you-” you cut her off before Jenkins gets your attention back.

“Enough! I have enough. Go to the principal, now!”

And that’s how you end up in Mister Higgins’ office for the first time. You can’t believe the situation got this bad. The worst part isn’t listening to the disapproving speech of the headmaster, it’s actually witnessing your mom’s disappointment beside you as he speaks.

While the principal is explaining to your mom and Jessica’s mom what happened, you look at your feet, holding back tears of anger. Once he’s done talking, Higgins catches your and Jessica’s attention.

“Do you have anything to add?”

“I didn’t attack her first.” you insist.

“Everybody saw you!” Jessica retorts.

“You’re the one who accused me of stealing your boyfriend. I did nothing wrong.”

“Yeah, just like you didn’t break Nancy and Steve’s relationship.”

“Sir,” you start, trying to keep a calm voice, “I’ve been receiving insults for more than a month now from everyone including Jessica. She called me a slut then she slapped me when I told her her boyfriend was cheating on her. Eddie Munson saw it, he told Mister Jenkins.”

“Munson, the one leading a cult? What a reliable source!” Jessica’s mother states, rolling her eyes.

“Madam, please.” Mr. Higgins reprimands. “One witness against Jessica’s three friends doesn’t bring a lot to the table.”

“So you’re not even going to do something about the harassment I’ve been receiving?”

“Y/N.” your mom says drily.

“I’ve never heard anything about people being mean to you. However, your grades haven’t been going down for some reason.”

“If you cared a bit more about your student, maybe you’d know why.”

“Y/N, enough!” your mom orders you before turning to Mister Higgins. “I apologise. I guess Y/N will be punished?”

“Indeed, we can’t tolerate this kind of behaviour. Technically, this kind of situation can lead to expulsion though considering Y/N has always been a good student - until now -, we’ll just say she’s going through a bad phase. Y/N will have a month of detention and you will be doing an assignment on bullying.”

Before you can protest, your mom glares at you. You stay silent while your mom apologies once again for your behaviour. Your mom’s grip on your arm forces you to stand up and to leave the office. She doesn’t say anything until you arrive at your car where she orders you to get home right away.

Once you’re home, your mom informs you you’re not allowed to drive your car therefore, you have to take the bus to go to school before informing you to stay in your room until your father arrives.

The second you close the door, you finally let your tears of anger stream down your face. You’re frustrated by the whole situation and you have never felt this alone before. You lay down on your bed rolled up in a ball, searching for some comfort. As you search for that much-needed comfort, your mind takes you back to a time in your life when you had it without needing to make any effort.

At one point, you had this comfort with you. When everything was still going great, it wasn’t rare for Steve to come to your place and put on a smile on your face.

You had been a couple for three months and no one knew about your relationship. You preferred to not say anything, wanting to protect what you had. Thanks to your relationship, you both felt less alone, you finally felt like someone cared about you, that was why you felt so good with him. Therefore, you would see each other when your parents weren’t home. As you didn’t want to stay alone for another night, you had invited Steve to come. Knowing he was in the same situation, Steve had rang at your door thirty minutes later.

Laying on your bed, you were enjoying each other’s presence after your first intimate moment you had just shared. Steve had his arms wrapped around your hips, pressing your back against his torso.

“You know,” Steve started, whispering in your ear, “maybe you’re too late to be my first love, but you’ll always be my favourite. I like what we have.”

“Me too. I like you, Steve, a lot.” you told him, turning around to look at him.

“I like you a lot, too.” he replied, tenderly kissing you.

Your thoughts are interrupted by the harsh voice of your father ordering you to come downstairs. You fastly wipe the tears away from your cheeks and prepare yourself for what your parents are about to tell you. While you’re walking down the stairs, your father makes a sign to go to the kitchen. You sit whilst your parents stay on their feet on the other side of the table, a severe expression on their faces.

“Is it true what your mother told me? You’re getting into fights now?” your dad says, angry.

“I was only defending myself, Jessica attacked me first.”

“Why would she attack you? I know her dad, she’s a nice girl.”

“She called me a slut and she accused me of stealing her boyfriend when I didn’t do anything.”

“Why does she say you did then?” your mom questions, annoyed.

“Because she’s against me like everyone else in this school!”

“Lower your tone, young lady.” your father orders.

“It’s about what she said about Steve and Nancy, isn’t it?” your mother wants to know with accusing eyes.

“Yes, they accuse me of breaking their relationship when it’s not the truth.”

“Because you never did anything with Steve, didn’t you?”

“How do-” you start, shocked to discover she knows.

“It’s a small town and you really thought the neighbours wouldn’t see you sneaking in a boy in our own house?”

“You sneaked in a boy?” your father angers.

“And according to Miss Johnson, it went on for several months,” your mom specifies, “aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

At this sentence, the tiny bit of hope you still had about your parents disappears. You can’t believe your own mother is against you. You’re getting used to the reputation people gave you but hearing your own mother implying you’re less than good because of your relationship is the final blow. You can’t understand how liking a boy could destroy everything.

“Steve and I got together after he broke up with Nancy, I almost wasn’t talking to him when he was still dating her. Steve was my boyfriend and we did nothing wrong!” you defend yourself, feeling the tears coming.

“Of course and you did nothing wrong when you attacked this poor Jessica.”

“Poor Jessica? She insulted me and hit me. I did nothing. Why don’t you want to believe me? I’m your own daughter and yet, you’d rather believe Jessica than me.”

“The facts are here!” Your father yells. “Besides, we should have reacted a long time ago, have you seen your grades? Do you really think you’re going to pass your year like this?”

“My grades are getting worse because I’m going through a living hell at school.”

“Stop playing the victim! We have enough of your behaviour. You have to do better and quickly. Go to your room right now! And don’t forget to apologise to Jessica.”

Tired of screaming in the void, you don’t answer your mother’s order and run to your room. Mad, you slam the door behind you. Normally, you’d be scared to hear more reproaches however at this moment, it’s the least of your concerns.

You throw yourself on your bed and you hold back a scream of frustration. You can’t understand why your own parents don’t have your back. They didn’t even try to listen to you, they only blame you some more. You know it’s stupid yet a part of you was hoping they would understand. You were wrong, no one is on your side; you didn’t think it possible, yet, you feel even more alone.

If you thought you already were the public enemy, the second you get back to school the following day, you realise it’s worse. Everyone is staring at you, you’re called even more names just like the whisperings got worse. You’re being even more discreet than usual - if it’s possible - wanting to keep to yourself.

In hindsight, you tell yourself you wouldn’t recommend dating boys with exes, it’s not worth all the pain and all the bullying that comes with it, in particular if the boy in question ignores you.

When you go to your last class of the day, you wish you could say you’re finally about to breathe but you still have detention. You have to stay at school a few more hours.

Sitting at your usual seat in your history class, you put your notebook on your desk. Your eyes land on the last page you wrote until they fall on the inscription carved on the desk: “the slut of Hawkins = Y/N.” It’s not the first time you see those words, it’s actually on this very table you discovered your life was about to change before you could do something about it. Despite the time, those words still feel like a knife in your chest. You distinctly remember the moment where everything fell apart.

You were behind the school building with Steve. You had been together for four months but contrary to the first three, it wasn’t going on so well between you two. You didn’t get along anymore. No matter your effort to hold him close, it was always ending in an argument. The main reason for it was that you were more invested in this relationship than Steve. You had noticed this the moment you had tried to get closer to him at school.

“I’m not asking for a lot, Steve! I’m not asking to make out with you in front of everyone, I just want to, at least, be able to talk with you without you ignoring me. I’m your girlfriend and yet, it looks like you don’t know me.” you pleaded, mad and desperate.

“You said you wanted to keep our relationship for us.” Steve retorted, avoiding your eyes.

“That was before it became more serious between us. I like you and I want to say you’re my boyfriend.”

“I know but you know that with Nancy-”

“What are you bringing her into this? She moved on, unlike you! She’s with Jonathan, I don’t think she cares if you’re dating again. Why are you searching for an excuse? I thought you liked me, too.”

“It’s true.”

“Really? It doesn’t look like it!” you said, outraged. “I feel like I’m alone in this relationship. Everytime I take a step towards you, you push me away. I’m getting tired of it. I don’t even know why I even try to save our relationship when it’s clear you don’t care.” you finished, going inside the building.

“Y/N, wait-” he tried to hold you back.

“No, we’re done, Steve!”

That day, you ended your relationship with Steve, signing at the same time the end of your peaceful life in high school. While you were arguing, someone had heard you and had twisted the whole story. Before you could react, the rumours had started to fly a few days later at school that you had ruined the relationship with Nancy and Steve by seducing him. There was nothing you could do to correct the rumours. Just because you liked a boy, you got judged as a homewrecked and you had to accept your sentence.

Emails I Can't Send Masterlist

Stranger Things Masterlist

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daily-hayley568 · 2 years

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Knight In Leather Jacket|Billy Hargrove

Pairings: billy Hargrove x fem!reader, brother!Steve Harrington x sister!reader

Summary: billy hargrove is your knight in leather jacket

Warnings: smut!!, p in v, unprotected sex, car sex, riding, fingering, degrading, use of pet names, swearing, smoking, plot not just smut, jason carver, oral sex (both)

A/N: hands and knees for dacre.

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masterlist

Let’s be honest. You were always into Billy Hargrove. The first time you noticed him was when you were babysitting for Max Mayfield.

Your friends always ran around with his friends and your friends were always fanning themselves when he walked past in the hallway. He was an asshole, but his ass was nice when he walked away. You didn’t embarrass yourself like your friends did.

It was a fact he was hot. You thought Eddie Munson was too. It didn’t mean anything, it’s just you thought he was.

The first time you actually talked to him was in the kitchen of their house, you swallowed, “So, sorry, excuse me.” You went to move past him.

“Y/N Harrington?” He chuckled, turning on his heel following you.

You hummed gently, “Hi.”

“Looking for me?” He grinned tilting his head, a cigarette between his lips.

“You wish, Hargrove.” You rolled your eyes, “I’m not one of your fangirls.”

He rose his eyebrows in interest, your moment was interrupted by a redhead walking in, “Ready, Y/N/N?” She looked at you with wide eyes before she turned to her step-brother, “oh, hey, Billy.”

“Hey, Max.” You walked towards the front door. Max said bye to Billy. Once Max exited, he winked at you. You have a gentle smile before closing the door behind you.

Billy was planning on ruining you.

You planned on taking Max to the arcade, you liked her younger group of friends anyway. Sad, you were hanging out with middle schoolers. Not like you cared, they were more real then your friend group between the walls of Hawkins High. A wretched place.

Max smirked at you, which you saw out of the corner of your eye, “Billy has never been that nice to anyone.”

“Really? I’m not surprised.” Your eyebrows rose, never taking your eyes off the road.

“It was like something kicked into him or something, just by the way he looked at you?”

“Like what? A piece of meat to a hungry dog? It’s how teenage boys like Billy Hargrove look at girls. They can’t control their dick in their pants.”

You glanced at her before looking back to the road.

“It was different then the usual ‘one night stand’ look. It was more of something I want a guy to look at me that one day.”

“Look, I’ve been in high school the last three years and I’ve never had a boyfriend. It’s ok, no matter the wait.”

You parked the car and hopped out, walking towards the front door. “No way! There’s no way you haven’t had a boyfriend? I mean.. I mean look at you.”

“Thank you, Max. I’ve been on dates, none of them were my type. Too preppy, too much like me. I need some kind of danger to my set-out life.”

Max nodded and you two didn’t speak of the subject much more when she saw her friends at the arcade. Dustin Henderson showed you how to destroy at Pac-Man.

The next time was when you went out with your brother’s friends. It was a loud party, that’s for sure. You always attended these things because your brother loved them.

Steve was off with his girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler. You felt bad, noticing Nancy was acting odder and odder. You conversed with Robin Buckley, a peer who you partnered with projects a lot.

After she went off to her friends, you stayed in the corner playing with an alcoholic drink. You caught Jason Carver’s eye standing there, just apparently looking so desperate for a man.

“Hi there, Doll.” He smirked, leaning against the wall adjacent to you.

“Hi, Jason.” You nodded, curtly. Your mother taught you well about manners, a pretty girl with a pretty attitude. Your brother taught you to fight fierce, with claws.

“You looked lonely.”

“Did I? That’s unpleasant.” You frowned. He was thicker than your brothers hair, you realized, when he didn’t get your sarcastic comment.

“Maybe, we could head back up to my room? Ditch the party…” he was in front of you now. His fingers trailing down your jawline down to the spaghetti strap of your top. “..ditch the clothes.” He pulled the strap letting it pop against your skin. You tried leaning away from his touch, but it didn’t work.

You prayed Steve would notice this. If he was even around. You didn’t know Nancy was telling him their relationship was bullshit.

You were a big girl, you could get out of this situation politely. You put your hands on his chest, pushing his back. “Sorry, Jason. I don’t want my brother skin you.”

Yes you do. Anyway.

“Come on, Darling. You know I’ve been crushing on you for awhile.”

“How sweet, tell me when you’re sober, Jason.” You tried walking away, he latched his hand around your wrist.

“Just one night?”

“Look, Jason, I said-“

“She said no, now get your hands off you before I rip them off you.” Billy Hargrove, knight in leather jacket to your rescue.

Jason, who practically kneeled before Billy let go of you. “Sorry, Y/N.”

You frowned. Jason would only apologize because you had a man behind you. Jason stalked off and you turned to Billy.

You let out a breath of air, “Thank you.”

“Course, Y/N. You were minding your own business and he had the nerve. I’m just glad, Harrington didn’t see this scene. As much as I would love for your brother to lose another fight, you are worth winning.”

You giggled and he grinned. Your laugh was so pretty.

“Do you want to leave this place? Not quite my scene? We can grab a bottle of tequila here and then find a secluded spot?”

“Are you trying to get in my pants, Hargrove?” You rose a brow, and he gave a cheeky grin.

“If you want me to be.” You rolled your eyes shoving him in the chest.

“Come on, Lover Boy.” You were walking towards his car.

As Billy drove, you leaned back in the seat, enjoying the wind from the open window. Billy had a cigarette hanging from his lips, speeding through the back roads. You leaned forward, grabbing his cigarette, putting it between your lips taking a long drag.

His jaw clenched and his pants tightened. You were so hot.

He chuckled pulling over to a grassy hill, putting the car in park. “I didn’t know the Harrington sister would smoke?”

“I do a lot of things that’d disgrace the Harrington name.”

He smirked to himself taking the cigarette back.

That night you really got to know Billy. You two were talking until sunrise and you turned out to really like who he was. He dropped you off at your house and you pecked his cheek before walking inside to the Harrington residence.

You might be the death of him.

Billy Hargrove found you in crowds easier. He’d wink and you’d roll your eyes when your friends fought over who he winked at.

Max wanted to have a movie night when you were babysitting her and her friends came over. They didn’t even think of you as a babysitter but more of a friend.

Billy walked in asking if he could join. Max said sure and shot you a look when he sat next to you on the couch.

Billy whispered dirty jokes, you swatted him in the chest. “There’s kids!” Even through your scolding you couldn’t find the blush in your cheeks.

He shrugged with a knowing grin.

Billy even asked Tommy and Carol about you. They were surprised in his interest about you. That’s when those two started showing up at your locker, sweet-talking you.

Your friends had wanted to go to the theaters and you agreed. Billy was there, when you got bored. You and him left the showing room hiding in the bathroom, giggling like school girls.

“Oh billy! You’re so strong, carrying that popcorn.” You mimicked one your friends which had said that.

Billy chuckled, “Jealous?”

You paused.

His smirk grew wider. He asked if you wanted to go on one of your drives where you guys would share a cigarette. Tonight, in that grassy lot, Billy and you were in the backseat making out. He hands were exploring your body. Your tongues fighting in the kiss.

You pulled back, you two sharing idiotic smiles. Billy had his mouth open, his tongue out. You flicked your gaze from his to the tongue back to his. You took your chance and licked up his tongue.

That’s about how far you went that night. Though there were more nights that led to more.

After a party, Billy was trying to keep his eyes on the road, but he couldn’t for the whole time. Not with you leaning your head out the window, your hair catching the wind.

Giggling you pulled back in, his cigarette in your lips. You took a drag settling back in.

“How far is our spot?”

“Ten minutes, why?” You smirked leaning back of the console to Billy to let him take a drag. While you were close enough, you whispered.

“I’m not wearing panties under this dress, y’know? Maybe I can get started.” His hands tightened thinking about how your dress hardly fell over the curve of your ass and you had no panties.

Trying to recover, he smirked, “Naughty girl, Harrington.”

“Very.” You agreed leaning back against the headrest. Your hand traveling down to your cunt, swiping up your arousal. You showed him your sticky fingers. “Look, Billy,” you cooed. “Already. Just for you.”

“Fuck, Y/N.”

You smiled, placing your fingers in your mouth, moaning at the taste. “If only if you could taste it right now.”

You took your fingers toying with your clit, you put two fingers into you, thrusting them in and out. Your moans causing Billy to press the gas pedal harder. “Oh, Billy!” You cried, imagining it was his dick thrusting into you.

Your fingers sped up, Billy groaned at you moaning for him. “Do not cum yet, Y/N.”

You pulled your fingers out, sticking them in his mouth to let him suck on your taste. “Sir, yes sir.”

Billy pulled into your spot unbuckling you both pulling you out of the vehicle. Setting you on his hood , hiking your dress up.

“Fuck, you’re so pretty, baby.” He murmured kissing down your sternum. “But such a slut for fingering yourself in front of me. Did you wish it was my dick in that cunt? Do you want my fingers in you?” You whined.

“Words.”

“Yes, dammit, Billy. Fuck me or I’ll fuck myself.” He chuckled, squatting down, eye level with your cunt. He pulled your legs forward closer. You laid out on the hood of his blue car. He swirled his tongue in your cunt lapping like a hungry man.

You screamed in the hills, crying his name out. “Billy, billy, fuck, billy.” You cried, grabbing his hair trying to get as much friction as possible.

“I’m almost there, shit.” He added two fingers.

“Come on baby, cum in my mouth.” His words sent you over the edge into your high, his tongue fucking you. You were exhausted coming off of it, but you wanted more.

You unzipped him, palming him in his boxers, he groaned. “Fuck, sweetheart.” You pulled down the boxers. You hopped off the car, getting on your knees.

You licked the pre-cum, “Oh, baby.”

You took him in his mouth, moving up and down bobbing. He groaned feral-like, tossing his head back.

His fingers grabbed your hair making you take him whole, you gagged but then you were able to bob on him again.

“Almost there. I want you to swallow it.” You licked up the shaft before taking him in your mouth again. You hollowed your cheeks moving faster. He came with a loud moan, you swallowed his cum.

The next time you were at the grassy hill. You didn’t leave the car, back in the backseat. Billy was sitting up and you were riding him.

You bounced up and down, panting and sweating. You thrusting him into you, continually hitting your sweet spot. “So good, taking all of me. Aren’t you?”

You were cockdrunk, dumbly nodding trying you best to please him.”

You rolled your hips before back to bouncing. Billy took a drag in your face and you whimpered.

“Want a drag? Here, baby.” He held the cigarette to your lips and you took a drag. You leaned down making marks on him.

“Everyone better fucking know that you belong to me. Even my fucking friends.” He grinned beginning to make marks on your neck.

“I am yours and you are mine.”

“Always.”

You came and he released shortly after. You fell asleep in his arms that night.

You and Billy weren’t official but you didn’t know what you were. Max smirked at the love bites on your neck. “Billy has matching ones?”

You blushed avoiding the questions.

Billy rang your doorbell with flowers, but you didn’t answer. Steve did.

“Steve Harrington, hey.”

Steve was confused, “You need something?”

“I’m here to ask your sister to be my girlfriend. These are for your mom, but do I have your blessing? I’m still going to ask her if you give it or not.”

“I figured, but I don’t care. Y/n!”

“What the fuck do you want Steve?”

“Your man is here.” They both heard running down the stairs,

“Hi.” You whispered breathlessly.” Billy handed the brother the flowers and Steve sighed getting a vase with water putting the bouquet in the vase.

Billy kissed you, “I figured I needed to do this right? Want to be mine, officially?” You giggled kissing him.

“Yes, my knight in a leather jacket.”

———

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upsidedownwithsteve · 1 year

Note

hey emmy, i hope you’re having the best day!

maybe a blurb about modern!eddie being forced to go to a taylor swift concert with reader, even though it doesn’t fit his super cool, edgy, metal vibe?

love all your work, smooches

You knew that the majority of the crowd was made up of girls. Screaming girls, actually. Dressed in glitter and sequins, red lipstick and hidden wine bottles in their platform boots. But Eddie seemed enraptured by it all, sticking out like a pretty sore thumb in the chaos of it, all shades of black in a sea of colour.

He held your hand with a renewed tightness, clinging to you tightly as you manoeuvred you both into a position where you could see the stage, but you weren’t crushed between eager fans. The arena was already filling up, the overhead music barely noticeable under the din of a thousand conversations. The girl next to you was already crying, mascara streaked, tiny gold stars leaking down her cheeks. Eddie was staring.

“Hey, stop,” you told him, nudging at his ribs with your elbow. “You’re being rude.”

“I’m concerned,” he said in response, leaning down to talk into your ear, his lips just touching the shell of it, his hand curled over your hip bone. “I knew this would be mental, but this— this is unreal.”

You sympathised, taking in his wide eyes and parted lips as he surveyed the crowd, groups of friends making tiktoks on the outskirts, people screaming at the sound guys on stage, asking the man who was fixing a lighting rig where Taylor was.

“Thank you,” you said for the eighteenth time that day, “for coming with me, you didn’t have to.” You smiled, warm and fond. “I appreciate it, Eddie.”

Nancy had been struck down with a sickness bug only hours before you were due to meet her in town, both of you planning to grab some food before jumping on the subway to the arena. She’d apologised profusely between throwing up, her texts littered with rare spelling errors as her hands shook with the fever that had come on so quickly.

Robin was adamant about looking after Nancy, Jonathan was out of town with Argyle, Steve laughed and said absolutely not and Max was on holiday with El and Hopper, some camping trip in the middle of god knows where. You didn’t ask the boys, you didn’t want to waste your breath. And then Eddie texted you, with a screenshot from Robin telling him his friend needed a date along with the words: “what time will I pick you up? :)”

The boy shrugged, smiling right back. “Couldn’t have you all alone.”

You made a face, because although you wouldn’t have loved standing on your own for a concert you’d paid far too much money for… you knew this wasn’t Eddie’s kinda scene. You told him as such and he grinned, nose scrunching as he avoided the eye contact of a girl who was taking way too much interest in him

“S’fine,” he said, “I know some songs, I can scream along.”

“Oh yeah?” You raised your brows, amused.

Eddie scoffed, shuffling closer as more people filled up the floor space, edging towards the stage. “You kiddin’? A little Lover? Anti-hero? I’m down with the kids.”

A crowd of newcomers surged past you as you laughed and you winced as your shoulder got knocked by someone’s bag, no doubt crammed with glass bottles of the alcohol they weren’t supposed to have. Eddie tutted, taking you gently by your wrist until he coaxed you to stand in front of him, your back to his chest. You felt a little more safe there, his solid warmth a protective wall behind you. His hands ghosted over the dip in your waist before they dropped again, like he wasn’t sure what to do with them.

You looked up, head on his chest and you grinned your appreciation.

The boy looked like he was blushing, cheeks a little pink and lips twisted to his the smile that was threatening to break out. Despite the leather jacket, the ripped denim and all the chains, Eddie Munson still looked like the softest boy there.

“Can you see okay?” He asked, bending down to you again so you could hear. He smelled like the aftershave he always wore, like smoke and spice. “You good?”

You nodded, pleased at his closeness, all the attention he was giving you and god, this was starting to feel a little more like a date, despite the other few thousand people around you both. “Yeah, I’m all good.”

Eddie nodded, “good. Maybe to make up for it, you can come with me to see one of my favourite bands.” His smile was teasing, but his words and his eyes seemed hesitant, like he was asking a question he wasn’t sure of the answer to.

You turned, still close to the boy, toe to toe and you tilted your chin up to beam at him. “Yeah?” You asked, pleased at the idea of another outing with just Eddie. Most of the time, you saw him with the rest of the group, too busy catching up with Robin and letting Will show you his new art pieces to talk to the person you wanted to most. “I can do that.”

Eddie blinked, surprised but grinning all the same. “Yeah?” He asked back. “Rammstein is playing in Chicago next month.”

You squinted at him, familiar with the name. “Is that the German guys who sound kinda demonic?”

The boy looked proud. “That’s the one, sweetheart.” He half expected to you to firmly, but politely, turn him down. German heavy metal was most definitely not your kind of music. But then again, Taylor Swift wasn’t really his either, and here he was.

“Will you take me to dinner first?” You said instead and Eddie’s heart stuttered.

Warmth bloomed in his chest, a heat that crept up across his neck and cheeks and he swallowed, nervous. “Dinner? Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

He could most definitely do that.

“Great,” you beamed again, eyes bright and a flush to your cheeks that made him think you were as happy as he was at this outcome. “It’s a date.”

Eddie didn’t have time to reply to that, ‘cause the crowd started screaming and Taylor Swift came out on stage, the opening chords of Love Story ringing through the arena. You turned, clapping along with the rest of the girls around you, your body firmly pressed to Eddie’s and by the third song, his arms were around your shoulders, his hands tangled between yours as he tried his best to sing along to the songs he knew through the grin that wouldn’t leave his lips.

...

#eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson blurb #eddie baby blurb

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morganski-19 · 12 days

Text

The One with the Trifle Pt 1

Pretend it’s Thanksgiving please and thank you. Flashback to Eddie’s first Thanksgiving after moving to the city. (If you’re a friends fan or know this episode, this will only be about the trifle bit and not the secret revealing section at the end of the episode. That will be coming at another time.)

Robin is standing in the kitchen with a large glass container in front of her. She’s carefully reading the instructions of a cookbook, pulling out ingredients as she goes. Steve comes out of the bathroom and walks over to the kitchen.

“Are you sure you got the dessert this year? We both know what happened last Christmas,” he asks, again. For the third time.

Robin rolls her eyes. “That was a fluke. I think I really got it this time. And, nothing is going in the oven, just stove top.”

“You say that like it makes it better. I’ve seen you burn water before.”

“No, that was dry pasta that I forgot to add the right amount of water to, so it dried up and then burned. But that was years ago. Now I know how to use the stovetop.”

Steve sighs. “If you need anything, I mean anything, I’ll be right across the hall helping Nancy with the rest of the food. No question is too stupid to ask me.”

“We both know that is a lie.”

“What are you making anyway?” Steve leans over the counter to see the cookbook.

Robin picks it up to show him. “It’s a trifle, from this old British cookbook I found at the thrift store. Cute, right.”

“Yeah, if you don’t fuck it up.”

Robin smacks him with the book. “Out, out. Go help Nancy and stop making fun of me.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop making fun of you, but whatever.” Steve walks across the hall to Nancy’s apartment. She’s in the kitchen basting the turkey while Eddie, Argyle, and Jonathan are sitting on the couch watching the parade.

“Steve, thank God. I needed someone who,” she turns her head to the living room, “actually knows what they’re doing.” She stares at the back of Eddie’s head.

Eddie makes a large gesture. “I didn’t know it was possible to fuck up cutting green beans.”

“It is when you cut them like this.” Nancy holds up a green bean sliced down the middle lengthways.

Steve winces. “How the hell did you think this is how you cut green beans.”

Eddie stands up. “That’s it. I’m going to hang out with Robin, at least she won’t make fun of me.”

“You sure about that,” Argyle snorts.

“She is just as bad as cooking as Eddie apparently is, it’s honestly fifty-fifty with how this goes.” Steve starts to peel the bowl of potatoes.

Eddie gives them the finger before shutting the door.

“Speaking of,” Jonathan turns to face the kitchen, “Do we have a backup dessert for when Robin eventually ends up burning hers?”

Nancy gives Steve a death glare. “Do you want to explain or should I?”

Steve sighs. “I had parent teacher conferences yesterday and didn’t have time to bake anything.”

“Because.”

Another sigh. “Because I went on a date with this girl I’ve been talking to for a few weeks.”

Argyle stiffens, having gotten close to Eddie in the past few months. Knowing how he feels about Steve. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

Steve shrugs. “It’s not that serious to be honest. We’ve only been on the one date.”

“And now we will end up eating whatever Robin ends up burning because someone couldn’t push it off until next week.” Nancy angrily jabs at the bread she is cutting.

“Woah, Nance, take a deep breath. Your parents aren’t coming this year, it’s just us. There’s nothing to stress about.” Steve stops peeling the potatoes to try and rub her shoulder, only to get his hand swatted away.

“Yeah,” Argyle agrees. “I’ve eaten plenty of Robin’s burnt cookies, and I’m still here. Some of them were pretty good actually.”

Steve gets a text from Robin.

Robin: Quick questions, how do I tell if the butter is browned

Robin sends an image

Steve: About five minutes before it looks like that

Robin: Shit

A while later, Steve is watching the stove while Nancy takes a break on the couch. Eddie opens the door, barely poking his head through before calling Steve into the hall. He calls Nancy back into the kitchen before heading out into the hall with Eddie.

“So,” Eddie draws out as Steve closes the door. “We have a bit of a problem.”

“Oh God, what did she do?”

“There’s beef involved.”

Steve’s eyes bug out. “What? Beef? How, I thought she was making a trifle.”

“She mostly is,” Eddie says. “Just this cookbook is the weirdest one ever where the recipes are mixed in with each other instead of in their own sections. And it’s an old book, and some of the pages were stuck together. So, turn the page to get to the rest of the recipe, and it’s a recipe for shepherd’s pie.”

Steve makes a horrified face. “Nancy is going to kill me. Like straight up murder. I will be dead tomorrow.”

“Why? Robin’s the one making the dessert. Shouldn’t she be the dead one.”

“That’s the thing. I always have a backup dessert. It’s a little game we play each year. Robin wants to try to bake again but leaves it in a little too long and it gets burnt. Or accidently adds salt instead of sugar. Or thinks she knows better than the recipe and adds too much flour. So, then I come in with another dessert for the people who don’t like to eat burnt cake. She isn’t the best at cooking, or baking, but she tries, and it brings her so much joy, so we let her do it and eat the dessert. But then mine is like the palate cleanser. Except this year there isn’t a palate cleanser and we’re going to eat a trifle with beef in it.” Steve takes in a deep breath, trying not to hyperventilate.

Eddie nods, trying to process everything. “That’s kind of sweet that you guys eat messed up baked goods just to make her happy.”

“Yeah well, it’s Robin. No one really likes to make her upset. Which she will be if we let her know that this is a major fuck up.”

“So we’re going to eat the beef dessert thing. There’s fruit and custard involved.” Eddie makes a disgusted face.

Steve gags at the thought. “Yeah, yep, yes. We are. I’m going to do damage control, you keep her happy. And if the pages become unstuck before the beef gets added, no one will be mad at you for interfering.”

“It’s already been done. There is no stopping it.”

“Alright then. I’m going to go get murdered, it’s been nice knowing you.”

Eddie nods before going back into Robin’s apartment. Steve takes a deep breath before walking back into the apartment.

“What did Eddie want?” Nancy asks.

“Nothing that important, Jon can I talk to you for a second.” Steve rushes past Nancy and pulls Jonathan into Eddie’s room. “We have a problem.”

Jonathan adjusts his shirt. “One that you had to physically pull me into a bedroom for.”

“Yes. Robin mixed up two recipes and now there’s beef in an English Trifle.” Steve makes a face like he’s bracing for impact.

Jonathan stands there silent for a few seconds, blinking. “It was nice knowing you.” He pats Steve on the shoulder.

Steve rolls his eyes. “I am already very aware of the fact that I am dead, but we do in fact have to eat the beef trifle.”

“No we don’t,” Jonathan says with disbelief.

“It’s Robin,” Steve shrugs. “We have to.”

Jonathan nods, pained. “We do. Remind me to get super high before dessert comes out, it will help it all go down. Hell, I might like it.”

“You mind telling Argyle about this, I have to go tell Nancy.”

“I’ll go guard the knives. Good luck.”

Steve and Jonathan leave the room. Jonathan going over to Argyle and whispering something in his ear, Argyle seeming indifferent to the news. Steve takes a deep breath before asking Nancy to talk in her room.

“What happened?” Nancy cuts to the chase, crossing her arms.

“Robin. Lovely, sweet, kind, sometimes confused when it comes to baking, Robin. May have mixed up two recipes when making the dessert.”

Nancy takes the first part well. “That doesn’t seem too bad. They were both desserts, right?”

“That’s the thing. Apparently, this book has the recipes mixed up and not in sections. So when the pages were stuck together, one page was an English trifle, and the other was a Shapard’s pie.”

“What,” Nancy yells. “How can those to be mixed up?”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t there. I was here helping you with the rest of the food.” Steve takes a step back.

Nancy follows after her, slapping him on the arm. “I can’t believe this. Robin is going to be crushed when we won’t eat it. Then she’ll be mortified when she realizes her mistake.”

Steve makes a pained face.

“Steve, we’re not going to eat this are we?” Nancy’s death glare sets in again.

“It’s Robin, of course we have to.”

Nancy starts hitting him again mixed in with anger about his mess up. When she calms down, she says, “I am doing this, not for you, but for Robin. Because I cannot even begin to think about how she’s going to react when she figures this all out.”

Nancy leaves the room without saying another word. Steve goes back to the living room and flops on the couch, being dramatic about the nonexistent bruises that Nancy gave him. She did not hit him as hard as she could have, or wanted to.

“Get up you big baby and get your ass back into the kitchen,” Nancy says from the kitchen.

Steve turns his head towards Jonathan and Argyle. “You know, sometimes I wonder why we broke up in college. And then I am reminded why.” He stands and goes to the kitchen.

part 2 coming tomorrow

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added or taken off) @slowandsteddie, @annieofhearts, @cacdyke, @ubpd, @captain--low, @thespaceantwhowrites, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @anne-bennett-cosplayer, @lunaticparisianlady, @apomaro-mellow, @dolphincliffs, @dragonmama76, @maggiebug417, @stevesbipanic, @fearieshadow, @eightpackdiaz, @au79burger @bookworm0690 , @practicallybegging, @potato-of-the-lord, @autumncrocusandladybug, @estrellami-1

#morgan's friends au #friends au #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #strager things au #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #argyle stranger things #pre relationship #steddie #ronance #jargyle

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findafight · 5 days

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The "Robin would never date Steve's ex who broke his heart" take is FUCKING stupid for a lot of reasons.

First of off, the autonomy you're taking out of Robin with this.

Like she's not Steve's sidekick, she's not his yes man, she's an indepent girl who should be free to date any girl she wants.

She would never let her friendship with him ostacolate her love life.

Why the fuck she should do that?!

No one would.

And also, Steve is actually the one who hurt Nancy the most (slut Nancy Wheeler).

And if you think for a second that Robin would ever take Steve's side, then you're wrong.

Just stop centering everything around Steve, and stop reducing Robin to be just his sidekick, 'cause she's FUCKING not.

Hi! So. Pretty sure you found the most recent post I made (on April 6th) tagged anti rnce (and ONLY anti rnce. Not even stranger things. Just anti rnce and my personal original text post tag and a quip about choosing violence. So clearly if that’s how you got here you chose to not just send a post you disagreed with to your friends to rant about but came into my inbox and tried to start shit)And if you didn’t I truly don’t get how you, clearly a rnce fan, found me.

I’m going to be honest. Neither of us are going to change each other’s minds. I don’t like rnce for a lot of reasons, from i just don’t see a romantic spark there to a lot of the shippers being kinda shitty. I don’t care what you ship, really, just that. Claiming it’s canon or should be canon endgame etc gets annoying. And that a lot of the times the way I’ve seen the relationship portrayed (because, contrary to possibly popular belief, I have actually tried to read some fics for them. It’s also such a commonly untagged side or background pairing that I am subjected to it like that often as well) there’s so often weird terf or radfem red flags and alarm bells going off. I’ve seen someone harassed by rnce shippers for calling them out and then those shippers loudly regurgitating terf talking points like it’s fucking funny. I know all fandoms and ships have bad eggs but holy shit.

There’s been a few posts about how for some reason rnce fans try to portray people who don’t like it as making Robin Steve’s sidekick, when really we are acknowledging the facets of her characterization other than her lesbianism. Just because she likes girls doesn’t mean that’s the only thing that matters to her!

Yes, Robin liking girls is part of who she is, it influences how she acts and what she talks about, but it’s not the ONLY thing about her. She likes old movies, she enjoys pop and new wave music, she does her make up in her best friend’s car, she forgot to mention she never learned to drive because he forgot to ask if she could, she thinks combining into a super being with said best friend would possibly solve most of their problems.

Robin is a character who makes her own choices! She chooses to butt in at scoops, chooses to stay with Steve in the bunker to hold off the Russians, chooses to tell him her deepest secret, chooses to apply for jobs with Steve once they heal from the mall, chooses to spend a lot of time with him! And that’s rad. It gives us insight on who she is!

Whenever I’ve written or talked about Robin choosing not to date Nancy, I’ve always made it perfectly clear that it is Robin’s choice. Because given what we see of her in two seasons, Robin is loyal, and greatly values her friendship with Steve. Like. Regardless of how Steve feels about it, and I do think of Robin was legitimately interested in Nancy and Steve thought she had a chance, he’d encourage her to go for it. (Steve isn’t blindly encouraging Robin to hit on Vickie. He has high suspicions that Vickie is queer in some way too! She likes boobies!) I think Robin would think twice about it just because how much she encouraged stancy to get back together in s4.

Honestly, it makes me sad seeing how many times “why would robin choose her best friend’s feelings over getting a gf” is said because like. I value my friends’ feelings all the time. If I thought something I was doing was or would hurt them, I would reevaluate. Why WOULDNT Robin consider her best friend’s feelings? The first person she ever came out to? Who made her feel safe and accepted? Who made her laugh when she felt most vulnerable? Who she encouraged to get back with his ex? Romance is not a level up from friendship, it is not the endgame of life, it is not superior to any other relationship type. Treating friendships as less important to romance is something to reconsider and reevaluate.

Your last point. Anon, who is centring Steve now? Sure. He fucked up in s1. Literally no one denies that. He fucked up and he worked to make things right. He cleaned up the graffiti, he went to apologize to Jonathan, and he presumably apologized to Nancy, because she decided to date him for eleven months after that. I highly doubt there wasn’t heavy gossip about the graffiti or their breakup/makeup. I do agree that before Tina’s party Steve wasn’t helping Nancy as much as he could have, but Nancy wasn’t communicating to him either. They weren’t in the right place for each other. If we consider the alley the breakup, how is that not still breaking his heart? Yes Nancy was on a noble crusade, but it still had collateral damage. It’s something interesting about her character!

Robin wouldn’t be on board with the graffiti. But like. Steve’s changed and apologized since then. And She wasn’t there? She’s just here for the aftermath of Steve’s reignited feelings for Nancy. Idk. Both Steve and Nancy hurt each other in s1/2. It’s not a Steve v Nancy thing? It’s just an acknowledgment that of the two, Robin is closer to Steve. She’s more likely to consider him. She’s not omniscient to everything that happened or the persons feelings and reasons for doing it.

I’m sorry you don’t think friendship has an equal or greater value than some romantic relationship, it must suck. I also hope you find better things to do than to come to someone’s inbox and try to start something over a ship you like that they don’t.

#anti ronance #I censored it in my answer but anon didn’t so it might show up in the search #but not in the tag #findaanswers #listen. just get out of here #if you think I’m a stupid idiot then block and move on #but you clearly came here from somewhere looking at stuff to be mad at because I always make sure to tag #also everyone ignores that Steve has CURRENT FEELINGS for Nancy that ROBIN ENCOURAGED

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dodger-chan · 1 year

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I am, in general, not a fan of soulmates as a concept. But I got this idea on the train home from the hockey games I went to today and now I have 750 unedited words of literal soulmates platonic Stobin, set between seasons two and three.

---

The girls locker room was Robin’s least favorite place in all of Hawkins. Too many undressed and half-dressed classmates who might think she looked at them too long, or notice her looking away too quickly. Too many opportunities to get found out, exposed.

“What the hell, Buckley?” Robin tensed. One of the senior girls, Jessica Howard was staring at Robin’s soulmark. “You’re Steve Harrington’s soulmate?”

“No?” It shouldn’t have been a question. Steve Harrington was rich and popular and exactly the kind of person who hated people like her.

“Those letters sure look like his.” The older girl jabbed her finger into Robin’s hip where the Russian words were printed. “Same nonsense.”

“It’s Russian.” Robin had been studying the language as best as she could in Hawkins since her mark came in. It was nonsense, from what Robin could tell. What was a square of stars, anyway? My mom said it probably meant I was going to marry a defector. Maybe he will, too?”

“I don’t know. They sure look like the same letters.” Beth Marks, another senior girl, was now studying Robin’s bare hip.

For fucks sake how many girls had Harrington slept with?

“I hope not. Steve Harrington’s an ass. I’d rather have no soulmate than him.”

It didn’t take long for the whole school to hear. Robin braced herself to hear from Harrington directly. Instead, she got Nancy Wheeler joining her in the cafeteria.

“Steve’s really not that bad.” No preamble, straight to business.

“Not that bad isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.” Robin had regretted calling Harrington an ass almost as soon as she’d said it. Not that he wasn’t, but he could be the nicest guy on the planet and Robin still wouldn’t want to date him.

“So, I know he has a reputation, and it’s not entirely undeserved, but he’s really very sweet and kind. We didn’t break up because he was an ass.” Nancy fiddled awkwardly with the food on her tray. “I know it must be hard to find your soulmate so early, before you’ve had much time to date at all, but I do think you should give Steve a chance.”

“I’m not going to date your ex to assuage your feelings of guilt for cheating on him.”

Nancy flushed red, anger or embarrassment, stood abruptly and stalked away. It was unusually satisfying.

The next people to bother Robin about her soulmark were Harrington’s former acolytes, Tommy Hagan and Carol Perkins.

“Show us.” Perkins demanded. They’d cornered her after band practice, practically pushed her into one of the girls’ bathrooms. The one no one used. The one where they wouldn’t be interrupted, however long they wanted to keep Robin trapped.

She should definitely just show them the mark and hope that was enough to get them off her case.

“I thought the only people who saw Harrington’s mark were the girls he fucked.” Robin looked from Perkins to Hagan. “I didn’t realize you three had that sort of relationship.”

“You bitch.” Hagan grabbed her shirt collar and pulled. Hard. Perkins did not seem inclined to stop him.

“The fuck are you doing?” A somewhat breathless Steve Harrington stood in the doorway. He stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind him. “Let. Her. Go.”

Hagan did.

The tension in the bathroom was intense. The hatred in Hagan’s glare, the anger in Harrington’s. The sparkle of delight Robin saw in Perkins’ eyes was the one that shook her the most.

“Get out.” Harrington snarled. Hagan started to reply, but his girlfriend beat him to it.

“Of course.” She placed a restraining hand on Hagan’s shoulder. “We only wanted to know if she really was your soulmate.”

From Perkins’ smirk, Robin thought the older girl considered it confirmed.

“Out.” Harrington repeated. Perkins led Hagan out. Harrington shifted his attention to her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He turned to leave. “Wait. You don’t want to see? To be sure?”

“Why?” Harrington looked back at her. Without the anger he just looked tired. “You don’t want to be my soulmate. So why would it matter if you are?”

He made a good point. Lots of people never found their soulmate; it wouldn’t be weird for them to just assume they were in that category. In a couple of months, Harrington would be off at college. In another year Robin would graduate and get the hell out of Hawkins.

They never had to see each other again.

If the thought made her a little sad, she didn’t have to tell anyone.

#stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #platonic stobin #soulmates au #short ficlet #my fic

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sunflower-butch · 1 year

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If you stan B*lly Hargrove, and/or you ship B*lly with Steve or especially Eddie, I need you to get the fuck off my blog and block me.

I’m dead serious. This man is an abusive, racist, misogynistic asshole. Yes, he was a victim of a abuse, but that does NOT, in any fucking way, excuse his shitty behavior. I’m tired of seeing shit using his past as an excuse and how he’s secretly a good guy. He’s not. Full stop. He continued to perpetuate that abusive cycle when he was aggressive with Max. He was very obviously racist towards Lucas. You cannot just blatantly ignore the way he treated Lucas and Max. He’s not a fucking marauder either. There was no “redemption arc.” He didn’t spend time unlearning his hatred and becoming a better person. He made one split second “good” decision, and that does not just erase his racism and abusive behavior.

Not to mention, y’all don’t even characterize him right most of the time. He isn’t soft. He is harsh and cruel. He’s not a fucking leftist? BRO WHAT

Look, I’m not a huge Jonathan Byers fan (the whole photo thing remains stuck in my mind, I’m sorry) but he is an interesting character foil to B*lly. Jonathan also was a victim of abuse, but he GREW from that. He put in the effort to end that cycle. He made sure Will would be protected from that.

You want to talk about characters who have been abused who aren’t massive dickwipes? Look at Jonathan. Hell, look at Max.

You want to talk classism? Again, the Byers family! Max! Robin even! Eddie for all I care! You don’t get to use his shitty situation as an excuse for his shitty behavior! Get a fucking grip!

What’s even worse is how many B*lly stans hate Nancy Wheeler. Why? “Because she was mean to Robin” and therefore “ableist.” Say you’re pulling buzzwords to excuse your misogyny and go. :) Nancy was NOT mean to Robin. There was obvious miscommunication between both of them. Nancy has spent FOUR seasons not being taken seriously, so it’s understandable that she was a little irritated when it seemed Robin wasn’t taking her seriously. That’s why she was mad. It wasn’t “ew Robin is being autistic.” By the end of the library scene, they are already more agreeable, and it didn’t take long for them to sort out their differences. I also saw her get called manipulative and I’d love to know where you got that idea?

Literally shut the fuck up, I’m so tired. B*lly is a horrible human being. Nancy has literally not done anything to excuse the hate so many of you spew at her. You’re just being misogynistic. I have not seen one good take explaining why B*lly is a better character than Nancy. Or why B*lly is a “good guy.” Just admit you’re a misogynistic asshole and want another uwu boy to stick in your mlm ships

#I’m in a mood #I’m big mad #‘b*lly’s a fucking communist’ be fucking for real right now #THIS MAN WOULD PROBABLY H*TE CRIME EDDUE #WTF ARE YALL DOING #anti billy hargrove #obviously this isn’t anti mlm ships #I like Steddie believe it or not #I’m down with Stonathan too #but some of y’all really will excuse anything just to have another man to use in your ships #which don’t even make any fucking sense btw #some of y’all really just cannot be normal about mlm ships jfc #uuuuuuh sorry for the rant I guess #let’s see if I lose a bunch of followers lol

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steddieas-shegoes · 10 months

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it led me to you

chapter 4: senior year also on AO3

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3

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Senior year should be an exciting time, and for Steve, it was.

Eddie was trying.

It was hard to be thrilled about repeating a year of school, even if it did mean spending the year in a lot of the same classes as most of his friends.

Including and especially Steve.

They worked together when they could, any assignment requiring a partner had them rushing to each other’s desks, mischievous smiles on their faces.

Steve wasn’t always good at understanding instructions, but Eddie did. Eddie wasn’t very good at executing on ideas, but Steve was.

They were the dream team.

At this rate, there was no way Eddie wouldn’t graduate.

- - - - - - - -

Shortly after Eddie’s 18th birthday, shit started to hit the fan.

Well, shit had been hitting the fan, but it hadn’t previously involved Eddie or anyone he knew.

Weird shit happened in Hawkins, and no one could ever give real reasons behind it. The government certainly made an attempt, but if there was one thing Wayne taught him, it’s to never trust a government.

Whatever happened with Will Byers wasn’t his business, even though Jonathan seemed like a cool guy, if a little shy.

It seemed like it got resolved anyway.

But weird shit kept happening.

Steve started babysitting a kid who was best friends with Will. His name was Dustin, and he had an attitude and maybe more intelligence than most of Hawkins combined.

And he was hiding something.

“I don’t even know what it could be. His mom thinks I’m just paranoid, but I keep hearing sounds from his closet!”

“You sure it isn’t their cat getting stuck in there?”

Eddie had been listening to Steve go on and on about Dustin for a while now, not that he minded; He loved listening to Steve talk about anything, especially something he enjoyed.

“Their cat hides under Claudia’s bed the entire time I’m there. This is something alive in his closet that shouldn’t be there. I keep trying to figure out when I could get in there to see what it is, but he’s suddenly very protective of his clothes. He wears Weird Al shirts, I don’t think he needs to be worried about me stealing his clothes.”

“Well, maybe he’s just hiding a secret pet from his mom. Like a snake or something she doesn’t want in the house. Maybe he’s scared you’ll tell her about it if you know,” Eddie suggested.

“Maybe.”

Steve dropped it finally, but Eddie knew this wasn’t actually the end of the story for him. He was too convinced Dustin was hiding something.

- - - - - - - - - -

Steve continued to wonder for months, but started to let it go when the noises stopped happening.

Dustin seemed upset about something, but he didn’t push, figured it was all related to the noise disappearing and figured now wasn’t a good time to push.

But as Steve started babysitting more in the afternoons and evenings, Eddie lost his study partner.

It showed.

His grades fell rapidly. They weren’t exactly perfect before, but they were all passing.

After spring break, the guidance counselor pulled him into her office and explained that if he didn’t pull his math, gym, and science grades up, he wouldn’t graduate.

Again.

He couldn’t tell Steve, not when Steve was talking about ordering his cap and gown like the rest of their friends. The only two left were Gareth and Jeff, both juniors, and both honor roll students who wouldn’t have to worry about graduation when it was their time.

Steve dropped down to one sport, basketball, because his babysitting duties had become his priority.

His father had been insistent that he have a part-time job and this was really the best he could do until he graduated.

He hadn’t talked about college, but Eddie knew he worked with Nancy on applications before spring break.

Things were going great for Steve, better than either of them had expected or could have hoped for.

So why was Eddie so fucking depressed?

- - - - - - - - - -

Wayne noticed, of course.

Despite the fact that Eddie was doing his best, and turning in most of his work when he remembered, his work was “below average” and often “late.” He tried explaining that it was just hard for him to remember due dates, but the teachers said he needed to just write them down.

Never mind the fact that he often did write them down, he just usually lost the paper or didn’t remember to look at it until it was too late.

So graduation wasn’t looking likely at this point for him, and he was trying to accept that maybe it would never be likely for him.

“You wanna talk about anything, son?” Wayne asked over dinner, Steve missing for the fourth day in a row because of babysitting.

Eddie should tell him, he really should let him know if he’s gonna be watching Steve walk alone or if both of his boys will be getting their diplomas.

“Nope. All good here.”

Wayne’s brows furrowed as he watched Eddie force another bite into his mouth too quickly.

“Uh huh. You ready for graduation?”

Damn, he was good.

“I’m trying to be.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Just not sure it’s gonna happen this year.”

Wayne set his fork down on his plate, his eyes burning a hole into Eddie’s profile.

“I thought you were doin’ good this time, Ed.”

He didn’t sound mad or disappointed, more worried than anything. Rightfully so, since failing again would mean he’d be alone for his third senior year.

“I was.”

“What happened?”

“Lost my study partner. Started forgetting assignments and test dates. Forgot my gym clothes a few times so I couldn’t participate,” Eddie shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal.

But it was a big deal. No amount of downplaying would change that, for him or for Wayne.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner? Only a couple weeks ‘til graduation and you ain’t asked for help. We coulda helped you out.”

“Steve’s busy. You’re busy. Don’t need to bother anyone with my problems.”

It was a lame excuse, one he knew wouldn’t work with Wayne or Steve if he tried it with him, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

Couldn’t admit that he didn’t think he could graduate at all, even with the help.

Wayne sighed, but patted his arm.

“You’ll get ‘em next year, then.”

“Yeah. Next year.”

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Steve finally noticed about two weeks before graduation.

He noticed how Eddie didn’t join in on discussing plans, how he didn’t talk about getting a class ring or the cap and gown, how he didn’t even seem to know when graduation was.

Eddie tried not to be bitter; It was his own fault anyway.

But the way Steve was shooting him pitying looks as everyone else talked about their summer plans and college plans and job plans was making it worse.

He cornered Eddie after school, usually in a rush to get to practice, but the season ended last week and he didn’t have any more responsibilities until tonight.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you aren’t graduating!”

Eddie flinched at Steve’s volume, his sudden anger making him wish he reacted more like Wayne did.

“It wasn’t important.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t important? Eds, we’ve worked so hard for this all year.”

“Yeah until you got busy. I tried to fend for myself and I failed. So. I’ll be there to cheer for you, but I won’t be walking across the stage.”

God, he hoped Steve would just drop it.

“What do you mean? I’m never too busy for you.”

It was a nice sentiment, if completely untrue. Maybe Steve believed he was never too busy for him, but the facts were that his schedule was filled and hardly ever with Eddie for the last few months.

“Steve, it’s fine. Just drop it.”

“Steve? Since when am I Steve to you?”

“Since I’ve barely spent any time with you! You were too busy for the last two Hellfire campaigns, and you didn’t ask me to go to any of your games, and you barely come to the trailer anymore for dinner. Wayne thought I did something to piss you off because you never showed up anymore. The guys started asking me if you found a girlfriend since you stopped coming to band practice. And I had to tell them that I didn’t know, because I don’t! I have no idea what’s going on in your life other than that you’re graduating. I know you’re busy and I’m not expecting to be a priority, but I figured you could at least find some time during the week to check in. I knew I wasn’t graduating since spring break and you just now realized it. That should tell you everything.”

Eddie felt like he was going to puke.

He never thought he’d be saying this kind of stuff to Steve, never thought their friendship would be anything less than perfect.

He never thought he would be watching Steve graduate while he had to return to another senior year.

Steve looked like he was going to cry, but Eddie felt like he was going to cry.

“I didn’t know it was hurting you so much.”

For some reason, that pissed Eddie off even more.

“You didn’t know it hurt me to know that my best friend had more important things to do than hang out with me?”

“No! I just-“

“Forget it. Wayne has a celebration dinner planned for you for the day after graduation, so I guess I’ll see you then.”

“No, Eddie, wait!”

Eddie ignored him, walking as quickly as he could towards his van.

Steve could easily catch up, he was much more in shape than Eddie was, but he didn’t.

And that spoke volumes to Eddie.

- - - - - - - - -

Somehow, he didn’t manage to run into Steve outside of the classes they shared for the rest of the school year.

He knew he was avoiding him on purpose, but figured Steve must be avoiding him too or they would have run into each other.

He also knew that he’d been talking to Wayne still, which was fine.

He wasn’t a total asshole; He knew Wayne meant a lot to Steve beyond his friendship with Eddie.

Or ex-friendship?

Who knows.

He knows he misses Steve like he’s lost a limb, knows that he’s breaking his own heart by overreacting and could easily reach out and apologize and have a serious, adult discussion.

But he also knows that he’s just putting off being more severely damaged when Steve inevitably leaves Hawkins after graduation.

Or, maybe worse, ends up finding a nice girl he falls in love with, marries, has kids with, and stays right here where Eddie has to watch it all happen like it isn’t completely destroying him.

Would probably even have to be his best man, maybe even his kids’ godfather as if he has any relationship with God at all.

Wayne hasn’t pushed, not beyond a basic “I wish you’d just talk to the boy.”

And Eddie wishes the same.

He really does.

But he knows what his heart can take and he’s already pushed it past its limits, so he waits it out.

He waits it out until the day of graduation.

Wayne got off early to attend the ceremony, had promised Steve at the beginning of the year he wouldn’t miss it, just like he’d promised Eddie.

He was changing into his nicer clothes (jeans without stains and a button down plaid shirt that he only wore for special occasions) when Eddie walked by his room.

Eddie wasn’t planning on wearing anything special, figured he didn’t need to since he wasn’t walking the stage.

No one would need pictures for memories of him.

“You look nice,” he said to Wayne, avoiding eye contact so he wouldn’t have to have the discussion he knew was coming.

He just wanted to put it off a little bit longer.

“You look…like you always do,” Wayne said back, not trying to offend, more confused than anything. “You are going, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Just didn’t think I needed to dress up.”

“Well, I assume you’ll be in a picture with Steve.”

“If Steve wants, yeah.”

Wayne shook his head.

“You two are gonna be the death of me. Go change your shirt. Wear something nicer than a band shirt with holes in it, please.”

Eddie listened even though he kind of didn’t want to bother.

He wanted to support Steve, he’d never not want to, but this felt too much like a goodbye for him to be excited about it.

The ride to the ceremony was sullen, Eddie’s mood bringing down the proud energy Wayne had been feeling.

He didn’t want that, he didn’t want to make this about him.

He didn’t want Steve to leave him with a bitter taste in his mouth, didn’t want Steve to know that Eddie was only doing this to protect himself.

When they parked the truck, Eddie stared at all the people walking to the gym, some in their gowns already, some carrying them.

He should be there.

He fucked up. Again.

He bit his lip as he unbuckled.

Wayne’s hand was suddenly on his, squeezing it to get his attention.

“Hey, I’m proud of you still. You know that?”

“Don’t know why.”

Eddie was not going to make it through this without crying, without turning into a sobbing mess, without showing every emotion he felt in a way he had been trying so hard to hide.

“Because you keep tryin’. And I know it’s hard and you’re hurtin’ for a lotta reasons right now. It’ll work out though, okay? You and Steve are different.”

Eddie’s eyes watered.

“I don’t think it matters, though. Not now.”

“We’ll see. You both are just bein’ dumb boys, but it’ll fix itself.”

Wayne got out of the truck before Eddie could add anything to it, probably knew he’d try to argue and didn’t want to do that here and now.

They walked to the gym, the expected storm keeping them inside instead of on the football field like usual.

The gym was packed, of course, with families and friends of the graduates, teachers and staff from every school in the district, and other students who were watching their friends leave before them.

Eddie decided to stand by the door, didn’t want to take a seat from someone who needed it when he was just here for Steve and his other friends anyway.

Wayne found a spot not too far from where Eddie stood, probably trying to keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t run for it the moment he could.

He wouldn’t do that, couldn’t really since he rode with Wayne here. Another tactic he was certain was on purpose.

The ceremony went fine.

He managed to stay hidden enough that no one who looked back at him noticed him, or at least didn’t act like they did.

He clapped for all his friends, nothing like his usual exuberant self.

When they got to Steve, he felt those damn tears back in his eyes.

Wayne was right: he was hurting for so many different reasons today.

He was hurting because he was jealous and didn’t want to be. He was hurting because things with Steve had been weird for a while and then he made it worse right when he shouldn’t have. He was hurting because he knew that breaking his heart himself would be better than Steve breaking it.

He clapped, he cheered, he held back the tears threatening to fall as Steve looked out at the crowd, searching for someone.

He gave a wave, and when Eddie looked over, he saw it was towards Wayne.

But when he looked back at Steve on the stage, he was frowning. He looked disappointed.

Eddie didn’t want to think about why, couldn’t let himself imagine that it was because he didn’t see him next to Wayne.

After Steve took his seat again, Eddie walked out of the gym through the propped open door, finally letting the tears fall as he put distance between himself and the graduating class he should have been a part of.

- - - - - - - - - -

The driver’s side door to the truck opened, but Eddie didn’t look up, just hoped Wayne would drive them home in silence and not ask questions about the endless sniffling.

But the truck didn’t start, and Eddie couldn’t sit here for much longer, not with the way the gym was quickly emptying into the parking lot and beyond.

“I’m glad you came.”

Eddie’s head shot up at Steve’s voice, trying to figure out if he could get away with wiping his tears away subtly or if he would just have to turn away completely and hope Steve left.

“Um, sorry to just kind of barge in, but Wayne said it was okay.”

“Did he?”

God, his voice sounded like he’d been crying all day.

He could feel Steve’s eyes on him, could feel the way he was thinking of what to say carefully, like he was afraid to upset him further.

“I think he just wants us to talk.”

Eddie let out a loud laugh, startling them both into looking at each other.

Steve’s face instantly fell when he saw what Eddie was certain was a mess of tears and snot and red cheeks.

“Eds…”

“It’s fine. Sorry. Um. I watched you walk, I promise,” Eddie said as he looked back down at his lap, hoped Steve would leave the truck or Wayne would appear and rescue him.

“Eds, I don’t care about that, I’m just worried about you,” Steve started to reach a hand towards him, he could see it out of the corner of his eye.

He also saw him hesitate and pull his hand back quickly, silently regretting the attempt at comfort.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. I’m not fine. We aren’t fine. And I think Wayne probably wants us to fix it, or he thinks maybe I have to try first. I dunno. I just know that I see you hurting and I want to make it stop, I need to make it stop. I need to know how to make it better,” Steve begged, his hand finally resting on Eddie’s leg.

Eddie watched as Steve’s fingers curled into his thigh, his fingertips practically bruising him.

“Please, Eddie. I just want to make it okay again.”

Eddie let out another sob, unable to hold back anymore.

He fell against Steve’s shoulder, crying harder when Steve wrapped his arms around him.

Over the last year, Steve had grown to be almost the same height as Eddie, but up until he stopped sleeping over, he’d loved being the little spoon at night, loved leaning into Eddie’s side or curling up in his lap when they watched movies on the couch.

This was different, but welcome, and after so long without being close to him, Eddie wanted to soak in the feeling of Steve holding him.

He’d missed him so much.

He’d miss him even more.

“Help me understand. Please.”

“I just got scared. You get to move on now. You get to make a future and I get to stay here for at least another year while I try my best to do the bare minimum.”

“That’s-“

“No, wait. I’m scared that it’s done.”

“What’s done?”

“Everything. We had so much and I never had anyone like you and I don’t know if I will ever find anyone else like you and when you leave, it’s-“

“Okay, wait.” Steve pushed him away and looked at him, his eyes sad. “Who said anything about me leaving?”

“Why wouldn’t you? You can go to college or find a girl or something.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Steve shook his head.

His voice sounded so sure, so final.

“But you should, Stevie. You can’t stay here just because I’m here.”

“It’s not just because you’re here. It’s because anytime I’ve thought of the future, it’s had you in it. And maybe that means sticking around here another year, and then maybe both of us stick around longer even when we don’t have to, or maybe we both go to college somewhere, or maybe we just go find an apartment in another city or state or, I dunno, country! I’m not going anywhere that you can’t come with me.”

It was exactly what Eddie wanted to hear, what he needed to hear, but he couldn’t process it. His brain was finding it near impossible to comprehend what Steve was actually saying to him.

“You aren’t going to college in the fall?”

“I am. I’m going to the community college. I don’t know what I wanna do yet, and Nancy suggested taking a few different classes there to figure it out before I apply to a university.”

Eddie felt…dumb wasn’t the right word.

He was trying to be a little kinder with himself about the intelligence thing. He knew he was smart, at least smart enough to keep up with the average person, so he was trying to teach himself to say something other than dumb when he wasn’t thinking clearly.

He felt clueless.

He felt like someone pulled the rug out from under him and then there was a second rug that was also pulled out from under him.

It was layer upon layer of shock and relief.

And he spent too long acting like a complete idiot to just keep sitting here without apologizing.

“I’m so sorry, Stevie. I should have talked to you sooner.”

“Yeah, probably,” Steve said as he nudged Eddie’s shoulder playfully. “The second you started getting worried and falling behind at school you should have said something. Can’t believe you hid it from Wayne for so long, too.”

That feeling in his chest, the pit in his stomach, that was shame.

He’d already felt guilty about not saying anything to Wayne for a while, not saying anything to Steve, not being a good nephew or friend.

But hearing Steve stick up for Wayne, and in a way that wasn’t meant to actually make him feel bad, made his guilt exponentially worse.

“I know. I’m sorry. I wish I’d talked to you.”

“I wish you had too.” Steve pulled him into a hug. “Now, my parents aren’t here, and Wayne mentioned something about taking you for ice cream.”

“Me? But you’re the one who graduated.”

“Well, I think his plan was to keep you feeling alright so. Ice cream.”

Eddie let out a real laugh, his first one in a while, and relaxed fully into Steve’s side.

“Ice cream sounds good.”

“We could go to Scoops Ahoy. I got a summer job there!”

“Is Scoops the place with the-“

“Sailor uniforms? Yes.”

Eddie barely held back from saying something that would probably ruin their friendship.

But those uniforms.

Steve in that uniform would be the death of him.

- - - - - - - - - -

Things didn’t go completely back to normal; even with Wayne as a buffer, the trip to get ice cream had some awkward moments.

Steve got quiet a few times, staring off into space.

No one commented on it, even though it killed Eddie not to say something.

He knew it might take time to get back to something resembling what they had before, but he hoped it didn’t stay like this for long.

Wayne did keep things moving the best he could, though. Eddie knew he was trying, and he knew Steve could tell he was trying.

“So, Steve, how’s Dustin?”

Steve lit up instantly.

“He’s great! Excited for high school next year. Probably more nervous than he’ll admit though. I think he’s upset because Will and El are moving.”

Eddie perked up at this.

Dustin and his friends played D&D, and from what he remembered, Will had been there DM. If he was moving, they’d probably be looking for a new one if none of them wanted to fill in.

“Are they all starting high school?”

“Yeah, why?”

Steve looked at him curiously.

“It’s just that half of Hellfire is gone now, so I’ll need people. Maybe they could join.”

Steve started bouncing in his seat, his golden retriever energy unstoppable when he started getting excited.

“You think so? They would love that! Oh man, Dustin would probably be a pain in the ass, but in a good way. He’s kind of annoying, but mostly because he’s just so smart, ya know? And he’s gonna think you’re so cool, I talk about you all the time anyway, so he already knows a lot about you. And I know he’s mentioned you being a DM to everyone else before because Will said he hoped he got to meet you and pick your brain about stuff. I wish he didn’t have to move, he could probably take over for you next year when you graduate.”

“Son, take a breath,” Wayne said fondly.

He always said that the excited Steve ramble was a learned problem from Eddie.

He called it a problem, but he thought it was amusing and loved watching Steve get excited, so it couldn’t be much of one to him.

Steve took a breath, smiling at Wayne, comfortable.

Eddie had missed him so much.

“Maybe I can meet up with them this summer sometime and see if they’re interested?”

“Yes! I can call Dustin and see when he gets back from camp. He’ll be so excited.”

Eddie was too, but for more than just the potential new Hellfire kids. He was excited to have Steve back, to know he was sticking around, at least for a while.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

He visited Steve nearly every day at work, much to his coworker’s amusement and annoyance.

Robin was currently glaring at them from her spot on the counter.

Steve was technically on his break, and they were eating snacks at the corner table while Robin was supposedly working.

No customers had come in, and she didn’t seem too fond of the idea of cleaning without help, so she just sat and watched them.

Eddie would probably be more creeped out if he didn’t get a certain vibe from her.

She was glaring like she was jealous, like she was another one of the nerdy band girls who had a huge crush on Steve, despite the fact that Steve had never dated anyone.

Eddie didn’t think about it much, it would drive him crazy if he did, but Steve had never even mentioned liking anyone.

But Robin didn’t really seem like she was into Steve.

In fact, she seemed like she kind of couldn’t stand him, which was entertaining since Steve kind of adored her.

He thought she was hilarious, snarky in all the right ways, and so smart.

“She knows four languages! Like, fluently!” Steve often reminded Eddie during stories about something that happened at work where Robin usually cursed under her breath in another language.

Eddie didn’t have the heart to tell him she was probably calling him names.

“Are you even listening?”

Eddie focused back on Steve, who was chewing a bite of banana.

“Sorry. I’m just concerned about your coworker trying to kill us with her eyes,” Eddie responded.

Steve looked over at Robin, who didn’t even try to hide the glare she was sending their way.

“Oh! She’s mad because they might promote me to manager instead of her. Just told us today.”

“Manager? Already? What bribe did you give them?” Eddie teased.

“Shut up!” Steve slapped his arm, smiling at him.

“Are you two almost done on your lunch date?” Robin yelled from her spot on the counter.

Eddie felt himself blush as he looked up at Steve, who had bright red cheeks and wide eyes.

“Not a date, Robs!” Steve yelled back. “She’s just jealous.”

“Of who? You or me?” Eddie smirked, feeling his blush start to fade as he realized joking was the way to go.

“Who knows. She doesn’t seem to like anyone.”

“I get it,” he nodded.

“Guess I should get back to work. Oh! Dustin is back tomorrow! Do you wanna try to set something up for this weekend?”

Eddie could feel the excitement pouring from Steve. He knew he’d missed Dustin all summer, knew Dustin usually used his phone calls for his mom so Steve only got a letter once a week.

“Isn’t it 4th of July this weekend?”

“Oh. I guess so. Maybe next week then.”

“No, no. It’s not like I’m patriotic. Wayne hates fireworks and usually works to avoid hearing them. We could have a one shot campaign if the kids aren’t busy,” Eddie suggested.

“I’ll check with them,” Steve said as he threw his trash away and made his way behind the counter.

Robin had moved to help a customer, so Eddie felt a little less shame watching Steve walk away.

The uniform did wonders for his legs. And his ass. And his arms. For him.

Eddie shook himself out of it before he got caught. The last thing he needed was Steve realizing he was gawking openly at him, at his body, the way it moved and-

“So, see you tonight?”

“Yep!”

Eddie had to get out of there.

This damn sailor uniform was gonna ruin his secret.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dustin was back.

Eddie had already told himself that he wouldn’t see Steve the day he got back, but he still hoped that maybe he’d call to check in.

He didn’t.

If they hadn’t been still recovering from, well, everything their friendship had been through at the beginning of this year, Eddie would probably not think twice about it.

But the ache was still there, his heart still a little sore over the way they distanced themselves and the way he made it worse by pushing Steve away.

“Son, just call him. I can’t handle more mopin’,” Wayne sighed from his chair.

It was his day off, which should have been helpful for Eddie’s emotions, but it just meant Eddie was pacing and pouting and annoying Wayne while he tried to relax.

“He’s probably with Dustin.”

“You have other friends. Where’s that Gareth fella?”

“The beach with his parents.”

“What about Jeff?”

“The beach with his parents.”

Wayne snapped his fingers while he tried to think of another one of Eddie’s friends.

“That girl!”

“Imogene?”

“Yeah!”

“Beach with her parents.”

“Not enough people took Jaws as a warning,” Wayne mumbled, just as frustrated as Eddie was at the lack of people sticking around for the summer.

Eddie let out a small laugh.

The beach in the summer sounded miserable. The beach anytime sounded kind of miserable. Sand everywhere, water with creatures that want to take a bite or worse, relentless sun, people.

Eddie sighed for the thousandth time.

“Alright, that’s it,” Wayne shut off the tv and stood up, grunting at the effort he didn’t expect to expend today. “We’re goin’ out.”

“Goin’ out where?” Eddie asked, suddenly worried that he wouldn’t be home if Steve tried to call.

“Diner for some lunch and then a drive. Maybe we can go to that record store Evansville, get your mind on somethin’ other than that boy of yours.”

“He isn’t mine, Wayne! That’s half the problem!”

“You can tell me all about it while I’m eatin’ a burger the size of your head. Get in the truck.”

Eddie didn’t argue, knew Wayne was gonna make him get out of the house and the record store did sound appealing.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The day with Wayne was nice.

“We haven’t had a day like that in a while. Kinda nice,” Wayne said as they sat in the truck, watching the sunset at the lake.

They used to do this when he first moved in, back when he only ever worked day shifts so he could make sure to be with Eddie at night. They’d bring a sandwich or pizza or, on better paychecks, burgers from the diner, to eat while they talked about their day.

Eddie wasn’t used to an adult who cared about what he had to say, who liked listening to him talk about nothing and everything.

They didn’t do it as often as he got older, and nearly stopped completely when he got to high school.

He wanted to do this more.

He missed having these moments.

Maybe they could bring Steve sometimes so he could share it with them.

“So,” Wayne started, his voice less relaxed than it had been for most of the day. “You wanna talk about the Steve thing?”

“What thing? I just miss him.”

“Nah, I know that, kid. I meant the being in love with him thing.”

Eddie almost gave himself whiplash with how quickly he turned to look at a smirking Wayne.

“What? You think I don’t see it? Even after everything that happened with you two?”

Eddie laughed with disbelief.

“Don’t know why I’m surprised. You know more about me than I do,” he said as he looked back out the front windshield.

“Which means I know when you’re hurtin’ yourself. You gonna tell him?”

“I can’t. Especially not now. We’re just getting back to how it used to be and if I told him, he’d leave.”

“Why do you think that?”

“No straight guy wants their guy best friend to say he’s in love with him.”

“Has he said he’s straight?”

“No, but I mean, c’mon Wayne. He’d have said by now if he wasn’t.”

“Would he?” Wayne searched his face. “Have you?”

“That’s different.”

“How’s it different?”

Eddie tried to think of an answer.

He couldn’t.

“Way I see it, the boy deserves to know, even if he don’t feel the same. He ain’t gonna leave, and he ain’t gonna treat you different. He may surprise you,” Wayne started the truck up again, his way of giving Eddie a moment to collect his thoughts.

“I just don’t wanna lose him. I’d rather have him like this than not at all,” Eddie practically whispered.

Wayne started backing up, his focus on the road, but his words pointed at Eddie when he spoke.

“You may not have him at all if you keep lettin’ yourself hide your feelings, kiddo.”

Maybe he was right, maybe not. But Eddie knew Steve would find out somehow sometime, and the last thing he needed was to lose him because he hid himself away.

- - - - - - - - - - -

He didn’t hear from Steve the next day either.

He tried not to think much about it.

- - - - - - - - - - -

The morning of the 4th of July, Eddie expected Steve to call or visit or anything.

He didn’t.

Eddie tried not to think much about it, but failed.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Wayne woke Eddie up at nearly midnight, panic on his face and in his voice.

“Was Steve workin’ tonight?”

Eddie blinked his eyes, not awake enough for the questioning.

“I don’t…know. No? Wait, yes.” Eddie rubbed his eyes, looked at the clock and frowned. “Why? Is he here?”

“Get up, put a shirt on.”

“Wait, you should be at work. You always work on the 4th.”

“Get up. Put a shirt on.”

His tone left no room for arguments, and Eddie didn’t like how quickly he was rushing out of the room.

“Did something happen?” Eddie yelled as he got out of bed, grabbing the first shirt he saw on the chair by the door.

“Yeah.”

Eddie didn’t like this; He’d never seen Wayne like this. At least when he reacted to Steve’s father hurting him, it was clear what he was feeling: anger and sadness.

This felt like he was trying to push past his emotions to do something.

Eddie knew from experience that wasn’t good.

He decided to stay quiet as he followed Wayne to the truck.

They arrived at the mall, or what was the mall, much too quickly.

Wayne broke every speed limit and a few other laws on the way, but Eddie didn’t say anything about it.

It took him a moment to register where they were, why Wayne was so panicked.

And then he was opening the door and running towards the problem.

Fire and smoke in the air, cops and EMTs surrounding the area, a group of people crowding around the perimeter couldn’t keep him away.

He felt his heart thudding in his chest, a sinking feeling in his gut making him feel like he might collapse.

He couldn’t though, not until he knew for sure.

“Steve!” He yelled, as if anyone would hear him over the chaotic sounds around them.

Wayne was next to him, his arm on his shoulders, slowly guiding him off to the side of the group.

“Excuse me, sir. My son was working here tonight, is there some way I can find out where he is?”

“He a minor?”

“No. 18.”

“Only list I have right now is minors. They’re making rounds again in a few minutes. What’s his name?” The officer asked, pulling out a notepad that already had a handful of names on it.

“Steve Harrington.”

The officer didn’t write down the name. Instead, he looked at Wayne with furrowed brows.

“You gonna write it down?”

“Your name?”

“Wayne Munson.”

“Steve’s your son?”

Eddie could feel Wayne tense next to him, knew where this was going and how much this officer was gonna regret testing Wayne in an emergency situation.

But just when Wayne was about to start arguing, Eddie heard someone calling his name.

“Eddie! Munson! Over here!”

Robin.

She was waving him over to an ambulance that had a few people who worked in the mall standing around, getting checked out by EMTs.

Eddie pulled Wayne over, didn’t even say anything or explain where they were going, just hoped Wayne would actually come with him.

If Robin was here, she would know where Steve was.

“Robin! Where’s Steve?”

“They took him to the hospital already,” she was rushing to say, tears in her eyes that he could tell she was trying incredibly hard not to let fall.

“What happened? Is he okay?” Eddie was shaking, and no amount of comforting touch from Wayne was helping.

“He’s alive, but he was unconscious. I couldn’t wake him up. He’s really hurt,” she sobbed, and Eddie put away all possible jealousy or discomfort with her and pulled her into him for a hug.

It was meant to make her feel better, but it ended up just making them both feel worse.

“Alright, Robin?” Wayne clarified, waiting for her to nod. “Your parents here to bring you home?”

“No, they’re out of town this week on their anniversary trip. Steve was gonna drive me home after our shift,” she cried.

“Alright. I’m Wayne. Eddie’s uncle, Steve’s-“

“Yeah, he’s told me about you.”

Wayne couldn’t help the small, sad smile crossing his face at that. Eddie watched as it sunk in that Steve talked about him, that Steve considered him family just like he considered Steve family.

“Can you take me to the hospital?” she asked nervously, like she thought they’d actually say no.

“As long as you go along with me bein’ Steve’s dad so I can get some answers,” Wayne rushed out, watching as more people started pulling into the parking lot, another ambulance leaving.

“I don’t care if you say you’re my dad at this point. I just wanna make sure he’s okay,” she said, wiping tears from her face, taking a deep breath, putting herself together.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Steve Harrington.”

The woman at the front desk just raised her brow.

“Your relation?”

“His father.”

The woman looked him up and down, judgment clear in her eyes.

“You’re Richard Harrington?”

Wayne nodded.

Eddie and Robin were huddled close behind him.

Eddie had taken in her physical appearance on the way here, but chose not to ask questions or make assumptions.

But if she was cleared by EMTs looking like this, he hated to picture what Steve looked like.

“I’m afraid I can’t give any information to you, Mr. Munson. I respect that you’re just trying to make sure he’s okay, but his actual parents will need to give permission.”

“His actual parents are pieces of shit, Susan!”

Robin and Eddie looked at each other, eyes wide.

He didn’t know how much Robin knew, but going off of her reaction, Steve must have at least told her a little about how bad they were.

“I can’t go off of personal opinions, Wayne. You need to calm down before you get kicked out. If they reach his parents, I’ll have them ask if you can be given information.”

Wayne sighed, but Eddie recognized the way his shoulders slumped.

He wasn’t giving up, had no intention of doing so, but he wasn’t about to take out his worry and frustration on this woman, who was just doing her job.

He walked away, guiding Eddie and Robin over to some chairs by the door.

“What now?” Robin asked.

“We wait a bit. Hopper should be by soon I reckon. He’ll get updates and pass it on.”

Wayne slumped in a seat next to Robin, but Eddie remained standing.

“Have a seat, Ed. Probably gonna be a while,” Wayne said quietly.

“I’m gonna take a walk,” he said, ignoring the way Wayne was looking at him knowingly.

Robin didn’t know him well enough to know what he was up to, so she just leaned her head back against the wall behind her and closed her eyes.

“Ed, don’t get into somethin’ you can’t handle,” Wayne pleaded.

“I won’t,” he promised.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The halls were surprisingly empty for a crisis of this magnitude.

Nurses bustled between rooms, but they moved so quickly, and with so much focus, they barely noticed Eddie peeking into rooms as he walked.

Walk with confidence.

That’s how he got through school, that’s how he got through life.

That’s how he would get to Steve.

But Steve wasn’t in the emergency department, or the floor with an OR, which had to be a good sign. His name wasn’t on the white board of the deceased, which was even better.

That meant he could be anywhere, though.

Eddie worked from room to room, finally making his way to the second floor.

The first few rooms were empty, but then there he was.

Steve was in a bed, hooked up to an IV and oxygen, unconscious.

His face was swollen and bruised, worse than anything Eddie had seen, way worse than when his father had punched him.

He wasn’t in his uniform, at least from the waist up, which meant they’d changed him into a hospital gown at some point.

He had cuts and bruises all over his arms and hands, and from what Eddie could see, his wrists were rubbed nearly raw, like he’d been chained or handcuffed to something.

That didn’t make sense. None of this did.

He fell in the chair close to his bed, holding in the sob he felt building in his throat.

Whatever happened to him was bad, worse than what he’d suspected, and he had a terrible feeling that Robin had witnessed it all.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Eventually, Wayne found them.

Robin wasn’t with him, but he was almost glad for it. The moment Wayne walked into the room, Eddie started crying into his chest.

“’S alright, Ed. He’s okay,” Wayne tried to comfort him, but Eddie could tell he wasn’t sure of the words he was saying, not with the way he was taking in his injuries.

“Hop give you clearance?”

“No. Surprisingly his parents did. Hop, uh, he’s missing. They think he was at the mall when everything happened.”

Eddie pulled away, looking at Wayne’s discouraged face.

“He’s missing?”

Wayne nodded solemnly.

“Eddie?”

They both turned to the bed, watching as Steve tried to adjust himself to see them better.

Before he ended up hurting himself worse, Eddie rushed to his side, reaching out to gently hold his fingers.

“Stevie, are you okay?”

“I’m high.”

Wayne snorted from behind them, and Eddie couldn’t help letting out a small laugh.

“Yeah? You got the good stuff, sweetheart?”

Steve gave him a goofy smile.

“You’re the good stuff, Eds.”

Eddie’s eyes widened before he looked back at Wayne.

Who was smirking at him, like he was enjoying this.

Eddie turned back to Steve, who was moving his head back and forth and humming something.

“You singin’?”

“Mhm,” Steve smiled, letting his one “good” eye settle on Eddie.

Eddie waited for him to keep humming, but was surprised when he started singing. Loudly.

“What did I see? Can I believe? Something was real and not a fantasy!”

Eddie’s jaw dropped as he realized what Steve was attempting to sing. The words weren’t all there, and the rhythm was way off, but…

“Are you serious?” he asked before he could stop himself.

Steve stopped, his mouth audibly snapping shut and a sudden look of fear crossing his face.

“Sorry,” Eddie said, letting himself smile at Steve despite his confusion. His heart was racing in his chest. His mind was racing with thoughts he’d never let himself have before. “Keep singing. I love that song.”

“I know,” Steve whispered. “’S why I’m singin’ it. You’re sad.”

“Not sad, Stevie. Just worried.”

“’Bout what?”

“You.”

“’M fine, silly. Just gonna sing to ya.”

Steve started singing again, skipping the words he didn’t know, so far off key that anyone who didn’t have a lot of musical knowledge wouldn’t even recognize the song.

Eddie listened as he let his mind finally process something.

Steve had been through some kind of hell tonight. Something that would probably have a lot more lasting impacts than just physical injuries.

He’d been knocked out for so long, this may be his first time conscious in hours.

And he’d started singing a song that Eddie didn’t even know he knew for Eddie.

A song that Eddie had spent hours learning on guitar, but hadn’t bothered Steve with because it was metal and he didn’t like metal.

Or did he?

No, he would have said something by now.

Wayne’s hand was on his shoulder, startling him from his thoughts.

“I’m gonna grab some coffee. Want anything?”

Eddie looked up to see Steve asleep again, his fingers limp in Eddie’s grasp.

“Uh. Just some soda maybe. Please.”

Wayne looked at their joined hands on the bed, then back to Eddie.

“You figure it out yet?”

Eddie gulped.

“I think so.”

Chapter 5

TAG LIST: @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @renaissan-vvitch @estrellami-1 @sofadofax @mightbeasleep

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #wayne munson #it led me to you #chapter 4 #ao3fic

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wakeupthemembersofbylernation · 10 months

Note

Just say you hate Eleven don’t beat around the bush with listing all the reasons Will deserves a prize. “deserves the boy he loves” right and where does Mikes feelings coming into that exactly? So far I’ve learned there two sets of fans the ones who fancy finn and want to see him kiss boys as some weird fantasy and the others who adore Will and feel he deserves what he wants without thinking of the other party.

Only in the ST fandom can someone take a reasonable sentence like, “After four seasons of trauma, Will deserves a happy ending” and utterly twist it to mean, “I hate El and want her to be alone and miserable grrr.” It’s also wild how you can glean “Will deserves a prize” from my words when that’s not at all what I said. I don’t see Mike as a “prize” for Will. That’d be ridiculous. I see them as equals- because that’s what they are: lifelong best friends who’ve been through so much, consistently put each other first, and have made multiple beautiful promises to each other.

“But you said, ‘Will has suffered so much and deserves a happy ending with the boy he loves.’ How is that not proving my point?” Yes, I did say that, and I would say it again in a heartbeat. Will has suffered so much. Here’s a refresher on just some of his trauma. Given the context of everything, given the significance of Will’s sexuality to both his coming-of-age journey and the 80s, it would be genuinely cruel to not give him a happy ending. And it’s not Byler shippers on the Internet, but the show itself, that has consistently tied this happy ending to Mike. It’s been reinforced in every season, and the writers and filmmakers doubled-down on it in Season 4 through the van scene and through aggressively inserting Will into every Milkvan scene so that he’s always on your mind. S3 brought up their hypothetical question of the future through the rain fight, and it also had Will very specifically saying, “I’m not gonna fall in love.” This was not placed in the show so he could be proven right in S5 when Mike iNeViTaBlY rejects him. Be serious.

As I said in my post, this has nothing to do with thinking unreciprocated storylines don’t serve a purpose in media. Obviously they do! Stranger Things has given us a few: Dustin and Max, Steve and Robin, and Steve and Nancy (after they broke up). It is also given us another which I will talk about in a second, although this one comes with a twist. Dustin was crushing on the attractive new girl in school, as was Lucas. Max chose Lucas and fell for him. Dustin was sad about it, sure. The Snowball dance emphasized his general sadness as well as his unluckiness with girls at the time. Narratively, dancing with Nancy was the healing moment he needed to move on. It propelled his character to his Season 3 glow up, where he surprises his friends with news that he is dating Suzie. Dustin liked Max, but he wasn’t in love with Max, built upon a lifelong friendship. The situation is just structurally different.

Steve and Robin? Well, you know the story. Steve developed feelings for Robin (after Dustin pushed him in that direction, I might add) over the course of S3. But Robin was like, “Psyche! I’m a lesbian. Let’s be best friends,” and platonic Stobin was born. Notice there was no grief on Steve’s part. Steve was shocked, sure, but he wasn’t heartbroken. He bounced back in a heartbeat and fully accepted her sexuality. And then the season ends with their friendship shenanigans at the video store. Again, this was a crush. And it had a very interesting plot twist at the end of it. And it served a very specific purpose in Steve’s journey.

In terms of Steve and Nancy, there was more heartbreak involved, since they were actually dating. And in S4, it’s clear that Steve has never fully gotten over Nancy, or at least he thinks he hasn’t gotten over her. But narratively, this just serves a fundamentally different purpose than the situation between Mike and Will. Steve believes he needs romantic love to be happy, so his arc is accepting that he doesn’t. Also, as a presumed straight character (even though I love the bi Steve HCs), he doesn’t have the same kind of existential crisis that Will, a sad gay boy in the 80s, does.

The fourth unreciprocated storyline is an interesting one cause it’s not actually unreciprocated at all. It just seems that way. And of course, I’m talking about Robin and Vickie. Robin has feelings for Vickie, but when she sees Vickie with her boyfriend Dan, she assumes all hope is lost. But alas, all hope is not lost! Vickie is queer too and has feelings for Robin as well. You just have to take off your heteronormative glasses to recognize it. Sound similar to something else?

I bring this up because while Byler shares surface-level similarities to these other unrequited storylines, it visually parallels the situation with Robin and Vickie. So don’t be surprised when Mike, like Vickie, turns out not to be straight. And character wise, it’s deeper than all the other examples by miles. Dustin got over Max, Steve got over Robin, Steve is just looking for any girlfriend tbh, and S4 showed Robin getting over Vickie before the plot twist. Will and Mike are lifelong best friends, and a slow-burn rejection arc would not only make no sense, in-universe it would structurally derail Byler’s powerful connection and interrupt key plots already in motion during the apocalypse.

You forget that these aren’t real people. They are characters. In real life, sure, sometimes you don’t get what you want. Sometimes gay kids fall in love with their lifelong straight best friends, get gently rejected, and then life goes on eventually. In real life, saying, “But I have suffered, so you must love me back,” would be insane. And Will agrees. The homewrecker allegations need to stop. In the context of the show, Will doesn’t think that Mike loves him back. He doesn’t think love can be for boys like him. It rips him apart and tears him inside for sure, but all throughout S4 he’s the one trying to repair his bestie’s relationship while being madly in love with him. Will thinks he will be forever alone, and your argument is that he should be proven right?

Of course, I adore Will. He’s my favorite character, and I’m a proud member of the Willuminati. The shoe fits, and I will wear it. But I saw this Tweet today that I had to screenshot, and it applies directly to the subtext of your ask:

No one should find it strange or delusional or creepy that people ship Will with the boy he’s into. Calling it a “weird fantasy” in any context is inherently homophobic and weird behavior. You simply would not say that about any other ship in the show. Admit that you find queerness icky. Don’t hide behind faux concern for El.

Lastly, I must directly respond to your question,“Where do Mike’s feelings come into that exactly? Why do Bylers feel Will deserves what he wants without thinking of the other party?”

What are you even saying? Accusing Bylers of not thinking about Mike is the strangest accusation considering there are 50 essays per day posted on this app diving into the psychology of Mike. Mike’s feelings are powerful. Mike’s feelings are important. I could just as easily have written a post that said, “After everything Mike has been through, he deserves a happy ending with the boy he loves” because Mike clearly loves Will. It is overflowing out of him. If you analyze and “think of the other party” as you put it, it becomes crystal-clear where Mike’s feelings come into play and what his happy ending is. Hint: it’s not with the girl he can’t even write ILY to.

I could have written about Mike, but my post was about Will, who is canonically gay, deeply traumatized, and whose sexuality is not in doubt. Will deserves a happy ending. “But El is also traumatized, and she deserves a happy ending as well.” Agreed, but her happy ending and the overall trajectory of her character arc simply do not center Mike. El’s arc is rooted in her independence, and I could do a deep-dive analysis comparing and contrasting Will and El and explaining why romantic love is central to Will’s endgame but not to El’s. But I’m sure there are fifty of those already on this platform. I want Mike, Will, and El to all have happy endings.

Anyway, Byler endgame.

#byler #mike wheeler #will byers #el hopper #stranger things

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rebelspykatie · 6 months

Text

that green light, i want it

Part 5

“It was the coven,” he whispers between them. He doesn’t want to bring Eddie into this, but he’s already in danger. They’re already in so deep and Steve’s scared and he doesn’t know what else to do but let it all out to this man who’s been more kind to him than anyone in his life recently. Even if it is out of stupidly naive curiosity.

Eddie turns towards him on the bed, pulling one leg up, pressing it against Steve’s thigh and fully facing him. His face is so open, Steve can’t help the way the truth slides out of his mouth.

“Herman said he was out patrolling when he heard someone coming through the woods, thought it was someone lost, like a kid or some out of towner passing through. Most homeless people in Hawkins stay away from this side of town, between the rich assholes getting them picked up by the cops and the stories surrounding the woods after Barb, it’s not really a safe place.”

“Yeah,” Eddie agrees, “Wayne warned me against dealing in the woods. It must be weird to have them in your backyard.”

“I was taught the same lessons. Fear can do a lot to people.” He takes a deep breath, continuing, “When he heard noise, Herman got closer to the edge of the woods, waiting for someone to emerge, but nothing came. He saw a flash of light and heard a cut off scream that worried him. He said he’s always been good at working in the dark after years on the night shift, so he followed them.”

“At least you’ve met someone with less self preservation skills than me, now,” Eddie says with a sheepish grin.

“That doesn’t make your behavior any less stupid, you know?” Steve rolls his eyes.

“Trusting you seems to be working out pretty well for me,” Eddie says, playfully nudging Steve. If Steve didn’t have better control, sparks might’ve lit up the tips of his fingers from the affection coursing through his veins at that sentiment. He hasn’t trusted anyone outside of Nancy in so long he barely knows what to do with someone putting any kind of faith in him.

He decides to ignore it. “From what he described next, the coven were sacrificing her. He saw an altar of some kind with Barb laying on it unconscious. There were too many people for Herman to take down on his own, so he stayed hidden in the woods.”

“If you’re about to tell me this was a virginal sacrifice, I’m never going to take witches seriously.”

Steve snorts, Eddie’s comment breaking the tension in the room. “If that’s what they were going for, no wonder it didn’t work.”

The bed shakes when Eddie’s head whips back, eyebrows rising comically on his forehead and leaning back on one arm to gawk at Steve. “Are you saying that Barbara Holland wasn’t a virgin?”

He ducks his head, smiling at the memory, “Nancy told me stories after she went missing. There was one about a sleep away camp that got interesting.”

“Barb, you freak.” Eddie shakes his head, hair fanning out around him in a wild halo. “Good for her. Everyone always talked about how sweet and innocent she was. Didn’t know she had it in her.”

“That must be why we couldn’t find a body. That’s why the spells kept leading us back to the woods,” Steve says, sifting through the information he got from Herman in his head. “It was leading us back to the last place she was seen because there’s no body to be found.”

“Doesn’t it take a lot to like, completely incinerate a body?” Eddie’s face contorts, the thought of burning someone alive not sitting well.

“Not when you have magic.” Steve holds out a hand and lights up his fingertips. “It doesn’t work the same way, the body could disappear in seconds.” He snaps, fire going out. “It wasn’t a natural fire. Herman saw colors and then she was gone.”

“So what were they sacrificing her for?”

“I’m not sure,” Steve shrugs. “It could just be power. They’ve always come across as desperate. I knew pretty early on that they wanted my power. It’s why I decided we shouldn’t tell them the whole truth about our plans. Nancy wanted answers so bad she didn’t care how, but there was something off. Some gut feeling told me I shouldn’t trust them.”

“Looks like your gut was right,” Eddie leans forward until he’s eye level with Steve’s stomach. “Good work, buddy.” And then he pokes Steve in the belly.

It startles a laugh out of Steve. He’s never met anyone like Eddie. Someone who can make light hearted jokes even when they’re in danger. Someone that can make Steve laugh even when his brain is stuck on how Barb was senselessly sacrificed for nothing. Someone that’s sitting here listening to Steve’s insane stories, even though he didn’t need to get roped into this at all, but still trusts Steve to keep him safe.

Eddie’s grinning a huge, dimpled smile at Steve that falls a bit as he leans back. “What do we do now?”

“I think we need to warn Nancy. It won’t take long for the coven to figure out something is wrong. They have eyes and ears everywhere in those woods.” Steve stands up and zips the bag he was packing closed, shoving it at Eddie’s chest when he stands. “Take this to the car, I need to make a quick phone call. Don’t leave the property line, or I can’t guarantee protection, got it?”

Eddie nods, saluting Steve like they’re in the military and Steve is once again gripped with that overly fond feeling. They grin at each other like two lovesick idiots, as if they’re not both in mortal danger. Steve shakes himself out of it.

He follows Eddie down the stairs and waits until he’s out of range from hearing anything in the kitchen.

Dialing a number he knows by heart, he wraps the cord around his fingers as he waits for someone to pick up. Finally, when the dial tone clicks and that gruff voice comes over the line, Steve says, “I know who did it.”

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #katie writes

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ornii · 1 year

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Stranger things gang (as many as u can cause there is alot of main characters lol) with a male reader who is like Charles Xavier including with his abilities.

Thanks and have a great day

An interesting Concept, I’ll definitely give it some headcanons. Hope these suffice!

Mike

Mike Being the self proclaimed leader of the Group, took it upon himself to make first contact with the “alien.” You obvious We’re Not an alien but that didn’t stop him.

After explaining to him and the others that for the most part you’re fairly normal, basic parents, lousy school and nothing out of the ordinary, you know besides being able to read minds, Mike was much more, calm about being around you.

He consistently would ask you to read his sisters mind to dig up dirt just to make fun of her, you sometimes just made things up so Nancy wouldn’t be so pissy about it all.

Eventually, once you gained his trust he finally introduced you to Eleven, someone who has powers oddly similar to yours. He asked you to help her with being more, normal with powers, and you gladly accepted, finally being able to talk to someone who knows how you feel.

Dustin

Dustin was the most excited and absolutely terrified at the same time. He’s only seen Eleven and what she can do, but a somewhat competent teenager with the powers to scramble his brain like eggs?

He constantly pesters you with questions about how your powers work and wether you can control minds or not. “Can you tell what I’m thinking?” “Can you tell what they’re thinking?” Questions upon questions, obviously you indulged him.

Eventually he’d want to test your powers to see if you can throw things or compare them to a guy called “Professor X” from the X-men. A comic hes been totally into. You joke about it but clearly tell him that you aren’t shaving your head and getting in a Wheelchair.

He’d ask if you can talk to people via telepathy and beg for you to try and talk to Suzie, who you assume might or might not be real.

Lucas

Lucas was, rightfully so, not the biggest fan of you when you were introduced by Steve. That was after he explained you had powers too.

Lucas hated Jane when she first arrived and eas cautious of you, asking if you ask had random people after you, and obviously wasn’t as friendly, you tried to make small chit chat but he wasn’t up for it.

Lucas’ issues were quickly resolved when one day he was riding his bike, and he swerved to avoid hitting a car and was tumbling down a hill, before he can reach an unfortunate fate, he suddenly began to float, as you used your powers to make sure he was safe.

After that, he apologized for how he’s treated you, and you obviously put it in the past.

But, sometimes he’d use his slingshot to shoot rubber balls at you and you stop them with your mind, just to make sure you’ve still got your skills.

Will

Will was the oddball out of the group, funny enough.

He was much more friendly with you at first, I suppose maybe you both had more in common than you expected.

Will invited you to DnD games, letting you play a character, the Legendary Dark Make Azathoth, the foolish god.

Reading Wills mind you find out about how he really feels about Mike, and you didn’t ask or put him, rather you never told him and just decided to be the best supporter than you can for him. Maybe one day he’ll tell you but that isn’t your choice it’s his, and you always respected it.

Jane (Eleven)

Mike Introduced you to Eleven and it was awkward for you both. You never met another like you and you first asked about her powers.

You showed off how you could read her mind, show her things and levitate, much like she could, she finally found someone who was “Different” like her.

You started assisting her with moving things with her mind the same way you do.

You got really worried when you first saw the blood leak from her nose and panicked, but she reassured you she was fine, but you never really took your eyes off of her, just to make sure.

Reading her mind showed you everything, the Hawkins Lab, Meeting the Party, Saving will, and more importantly, The Demagorgon

Max

Mad Max was the last you met, as she had an older brother around your age that hated you guys for, whatever reason.

When you did bump into her after being interrogated by Dustin About your powers, you fiddled around showing how you read minds and can scramble them.

She asked you to scramble Billy’s but you talked her out of it.

But after meeting Billy, getting into an argument and then calmly using you powers to slam him onto the roof, calmly telling him to never harass Max or anyone ever again.

Needless to Say he never bothered you again, and you secretly became Maxs favorite Weirdo

#netflix #male reader #reader insert #stranger things x male reader #stranger things x y/n #stranger things #telepathy #superheores

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i-me-mine · 1 year

Text

As time goes by | Chapter 9: Wicked Halloween

Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

Word Count: 3.8k

Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | AO3

Chapter Summary: As you are more inclined to confess your feelings to Eddie, you start to think that Tina’s Halloween party may be just the perfect moment for that. Will your feelings be reciprocated? Will you finally have a chance to be with him?

The usual noise of teenagers during lunchtime fills the Hawkins High School cafeteria, where you and Eddie sit on opposite sides of the room, stealing glances at each other. Eddie fidgets nervously with his food, taking small bites of his dried fruit while Jeff and Gareth point to something in a magazine in the middle of a discussion.

While you are doing your best to remain engaged in the conversation at your table, your gaze keeps wandering back to Eddie - you feel a spark every time your eyes meet, making your face break out into shy, tentative smiles.

“If you are trying to be discreet, these smiles and longing looks across the room are not helping” Jonathan is making fun of you again. “Or does that mean you are finally telling him how you feel?”

You frown in response - while you have been thinking about telling Eddie about your feelings, hearing Jonathan say it aloud makes it seems absurd. Maybe you are not ready to confess how you feel.

“I’m not telling him anything; it would be good for nothing. He does not like me back.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” Jonathan counters, rolling his eyes.

Nancy and a visibly upset Steve join you, a great excuse to stop talking about Eddie. Billy has finally joined the school and changed his focus to Steve. You are not sure if he just got tired of chasing you, if he took Wayne’s threat seriously, or if you just got pretty good at avoiding him like the plague.

The fact is that you are thankful that you have not been bothered by him recently. But, on the other hand, you pity Steve - Billy, for some reason, has made his mission to take over the mantle of King of school from Steve - but Steve is not even that boy anymore.

“Soooo, could you convince him to come to the party?” Nancy asks you, pointing at Jonathan.

No, you have not tried convincing Jonathan to attend Tina’s Halloween party. You knew he was not a big fan of parties and was using the excuse of going trick-or-treating with Will to avoid it, and you didn’t want to push it. Well, it didn’t stop Nancy from spending the rest of the lunch trying to convince him.

“And they invited me to trick-or-treat with them like it was such an honor! They are nuts.” You suppress laughter while Max tells you how she met the kids and their attempt to befriend her. While she seems frustrated and keeps calling them stalkers, you tried to make her see they are good boys. Of course, their behavior was not doing any favors, but you know they would be great friends to her.

“It’s ok to let someone be nice to you,” You assure Max, “as many assholes as there are at Hawkins, there’s still a few of us who are good people. You just need to give it a chance.”

“Are you giving Eddie a chance?” she raises her eyebrows.

“What?” you did not expect her to bring Eddie into the conversation.

“C’mon, It’s obvious that you like each other, but no one is making the first move. So you should do it then.”

“I’m not risking losing him, Max.”

She reaches forward and squeezes your shoulders.

“Ok, let’s imagine the worst-case scenario, but reversed… Eddie comes and confesses his love to you, but you don’t love him back… would you humiliate him? Would you stop talking to him? Would you stop being his friend?”

“Of course not. He would still be my best friend.”

“So why do you think Eddie wouldn’t do the same to you?”

You can’t find words to counter her. The feeling, the fear of Eddie’s rejection and losing him forever, is still there, but you can’t form cohesive arguments to sustain it.

“Life would be better if love were less complicated” it’s the only thing you can say.

“You are the one complicating it! You’re going to that party, right? So use that - blame the alcohol if you must; adults often do this. But just give it a try, please? I promise I’ll think about giving the boys a chance too. Deal?”

“I can’t believe that I’m taking advice from a 10-year-old girl” you roll your eyes, trying to dodge her request.

“I’m not 10!!” she is visibly offended, as she was happy that you were the only one that did not treat her as just a child, and now you are downplaying her age to disregard her advice.

“I know, silly!” you ruffle her hair, “I’ll think about it, ok?”

Max grins cheerfully and gives you a tight hug.

Truth be told, you wanted to go to the party with Eddie. Ok, he is going more for business-related matters than to have fun, as parties like this mean good deals for him. Still, you had promised Nancy that you would go together - she is the main reason you have an invitation anyway, as Tina would never invite you directly to a party - so you are both getting ready for it in Nancy’s bedroom.

“I heard Stacy and the girls will stop by a fortune teller before the party. What do you think? Should we get our fortunes read?” Nancy asks while you are doing her hair.

“I’ll pass… knowing the present is bad enough,” you chuckle.

“I wouldn’t mind getting advice about changing the present or the future…”

But you know that you already got the bits of advice you need and that things will change tonight. You feel in your bones that things will not be the same between you and Eddie - you just hope you’ll keep finding your courage when the time to tell him the truth comes.

You finish doing Nancy’s hair - She looks so beautiful in her white sweater with the black bow, part of her Lana costume from Risky Business, while Steve will be going as Joel - matching costumes. Your costume is nothing different, just a vampire. Joyce helped you make a cape, Dustin helped you with the fake fangs, and you picked one of your leather pants, a corset, and that’s it.

You hear Steve honking in the street - time to go. You take a deep breath.

“You look great. I’m sure you’ll break some hearts today”, Nancy nudged you playfully while you both exited the house.

“Ok, remember, we are just stupid teenagers for the night, ok? So let’s party!” says Steve while you get into the car.

At Tina’s house, teenagers in costumes and cars crowded the driveway. As soon as you get there, your eyes scan the surroundings looking for Eddie until you see him talking with some boys. You tell Nancy to go inside with Steve that you’ll soon join her, and go to meet him.

When you are getting near him, he finally notices you, raising a hand to one of the boys to stop his talking, and turns to you, looking at you from head to feet.

“Wow, sweetheart, you look so hot!” he says delightedly, “I’m sorry, boys, but I’m towing this little freak here” He then grabs your hand and pulls you away.

“Hey, where are we going? I just got here! Eds! Eds!!” But he does not stop, dragging you through the side of the house. As he breaks into a sprint, you laugh giddily, feeling your hair blowing in the wind and Eddie’s firm hand holding yours. Once you are in the backyard, he stops.

“Could you be any more annoying, Eds?” you try to catch your breath.

“Easily, m’lady. Is that a challenge?” he laughs upon seeing your reaction. “Stay here; I’ll be right back; I’ll get us some fuel,” and you see him storming inside the house.

You wait by the side of the door, out of view. He returns to the yard, holding two beer bottles, looking for you. You approach him quietly.

“Gotcha,” you say, kissing his throat.

“Aren’t you a truly frightening little monster?” He chuckles, shaking his head and passing you one of the bottles before starting to drink.

While one of his hands is holding the bottle, the other rests on the top of your shoulder, his thumb soothingly running back and forth.

“Well, as you, a vampire, has bitten me, I’m doomed. I’ll become a vampire too, under your control.”

“Being my vampire for all eternity is such an awful fate?” you ask jokingly.

“Definitely not; I gladly accept it. I’m already yours anyway.” he shrugs.

That would be a perfect moment to confess, but you still struggle to find the words. You take another beer dip from your bottle, hoping this will get you courage, but then you see a boy trying to call Eddie - A customer.

“Your presence is being requested elsewhere, my lord. So go, work while I have fun. I’ll meet you later.” you say while he reluctantly leaves your side.

It takes little time for you to find Nancy, and you both go to the dancefloor. She offers you her red cup filled with the party punch. Soon the pounding music, the cheers, the fun, and the alcohol work their way into your blood, and you can’t suppress your excitement. You and Nancy take turns filling your cups with more punch, and while you know that you both are already drunk, you slow down a bit, but not much, as you are still building up courage.

You waive at Jonathan upon seeing him- He is in his regular clothes, but he came anyway, and you see that he is trying to adjust and make his way through the crowd. Next, Eddie comes into the house, glancing around the party until finding you. He gazes at you longingly as you spin around with your red cup dancing.

He joins you on the dancefloor, and you smile, seeing how feeling him moving close to you, in the same rhythm, seems just right. His hands are holding you by your waist, the warm touch of his skin, and the coldness of his rings, making your heart beat faster and faster with each song you dance together.

You take a moment to turn your head up and drink the rest of the punch in your cup - and you feel a drop of the red punch drink falling out of your mouth, looking like a drop of blood making its way down your neck. Suddenly you feel Eddie licking it, going from your neck all the way up to the side of your mouth.

You need to remind yourself how to breathe, your heart stopping momentarily then picking up again in double time. You see Eddie licking his lips, and you both lock eyes while he strokes his thumb on your cheek. You could close the distance between you. “It would be so easy,” you think, while the idea of just kissing Eddie now takes shape in your mind. No fancy words needed, no explanations, just a simple act, a consequence of love. “Maybe he is thinking the same thing.” you ponder.

“Hey Eddie, my man… your services are needed!” a boy says, pulling Eddie away from you, breaking your trance.

“JESUS H. CHRIST, NOT NOW!” he yells, throwing a tantrum.

“Go, they need you. But be careful.” You nod at him with a smile.

“Behave,” he replies, leaving to follow the boy.

You stay there dancing a bit, looking around, but you don’t find Nancy. You decide to go to the punch bowl and re-fill your cup, happily remembering the moments you just shared with Eddie and thinking this party was a great idea. You were soon to change your mind, however.

You scan the party with your cup halfway to your lips and then notice someone staring at you. Billy. The room is filled with dancers and party-goers, but he pushes his way through the crowd to you without effort. You turn your back to him, but he reaches you before you can run away.

“I finally find you alone.” He says, getting closer to you. What you wouldn’t give to be somewhere else.

Billy was dressed in a leather jacket with no shirt underneath, and he was wet - sweat, beer, maybe a mix of both. You tried to stay back, but he gripped your wrists in his hard hands. You could feel the panic bubbling inside you again, the air suddenly heavier to breathe, your thoughts in a loop inside your head. “Oh no, god, please, help me.”

He stands in front of you, duckling his head so that his eyes are closer to being on the same level as yours. “Look at you… you’re just a sad little creature, aren’t you? Let me take care of you.”

“N-no,” you replied, your voice cracking.

He didn’t care. You tried to remember through your panic the little self-defense you knew to try to free yourself, but keeping his eyes on yours, Billy began to slowly bend his face towards you while one of his hands grabbed the hair behind your head, moving you closer to him as he tries to kiss you.

And your mind registers more than one thing at the same time: you hear Eddie’s voice crying out “No!”, the sound of a bottle falling and breaking on the floor and Billy biting his lips, laughing diabolically. Billy lets go of you, and when you look, you see the back of Eddie’s Dio vest as he turns on his heel without another look at you and disappears through the teenagers.

“Eds! Eds, wait,” you try to call him, pushing people to reach him but unable to move fast enough. You then see Nancy angry and pushing people around, with red punch spilled all over her white sweater. For a moment you are torn between following Eddie or Nancy - and you decide to help Nancy, as you don’t see Steve around and don’t know what happened to her.

“Hey, Nancy, are you ok?” you say when you reach her.

“It’s all wrong, ALL WRONG. How could I let things get to this?” Nancy replied, hugging you.

Then, she pushed you, “I’m sorry, your costume… I need to clean this… excuse me”, and headed to the bathroom. You followed her, but at the door, Steve appeared and asked you to let him handle it.

“You have 5 minutes, Harrington - if it goes sour, I’m coming in!” you say while he thanks you and enters the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

You find Jonathan, who asked what was going on, and Nancy’s answer is still repeating in your head, “It’s all wrong.” Everything was perfect, and then suddenly, it wasn’t. But Nancy would be better soon, and you would find Eddie and explain everything to him. Everything will be ok.

Not everything works the way you hope for.

Nancy storms out of the bathroom, tripping on her feet, and you go after her. “Wait for me!” you shout. All you are doing tonight seems to run to or from people.

As you follow Nancy and reach the backyard, you see Eddie. But it takes only a second for you to see a girl burying her hands in Eddie’s hair. His hands also dig into her hair, pinned to the wall, his tongue down her throat.

Your brows raise incredulously, you freeze in place with shock and feel Jonathan bump into you. “What?” he asks. You take the strength you still have to ask him, “Go after Nancy. Take care of her for me, please?” your voice no louder than a whisper.

As he agrees and leaves, you gasp, biting your lip as you struggle to hold back the tears pricking your eyes. You imagined before that seeing Eddie with someone else would hurt, but not that much. He might as well have just punched you in the chest, as that’s how it feels. As if seeing it had knocked every wisp of air from your lungs, your legs feeling jelly, your stomach dropping, and the sensation of a million needles in your skin simultaneously.

You stand there struggling to inhale, to exhale, to do anything, unable to speak, totally stunned, the images of them kissing being burned within your mind. You think how pathetic you probably look like now, and this gives you the strength to go back inside.

Your walking is wobbly, but you don’t have to walk much to find a quiet spot. Finally, you slump down to the floor and begin to sob, thinking about the girl kissing the lips you dreamed of for so long. Thinking about his hands exploring her body in the same way you wished he would do with you, on how she gets to enjoy everything you wish for but will never have.

While on the cool tile floor, you put your head between your hands, trying to remember how to breathe, murmuring, “I loved you first… I loved you first,” while tears stream down your face as the excruciating pain in your chest increases. Can sadness kill someone?

“Mind if I sit here?” You raise your head to confirm if it was really Steve who asked you that. You shrug and try to use the back of your hands to clear the tears while he sits on the floor next to you.

He stays silent, wanting to respect any space you need. He seems concerned about you but does not dare to say anything.

“Ever fell in love with someone you shouldn’t have fallen in love with?” you ask, breaking the silence.

“Don’t fall in love; there’s just too much to lose.”

“Too late for that.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

You notice that he hasn’t asked you about Nancy. Did he see her leaving? Did he see Jonathan going with her? You don’t know what happened, but now you are worried that maybe you did things worse for him.

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking, of course. I saw you and Munson tonight… you looked pretty close if you know what I mean”.

“Well, I guess he decided to get closer to somebody else” That was not the whole story, but there was no need to tell Steve everything. “And seeing it shouldn’t have hurt as it did. It shouldn’t have. But, for a moment today, I let my hopes high… I thought… I thought he liked me too.”

“But I was wrong,” you wanted to complete but to admit it was more than you could allow yourself right now. And your line of thought was interrupted by Steve’s burst of laughter.

“Sure, Go ahead, laugh at the girl who loved too much, too easily,” you sighed, rolling your eyes.

“Oh, c’mon, you can’t say that… have you ever told him you love him?”

“Of course not, Steve!”

“See, that’s your mistake; your timing was off. You should have told him.”

He was starting to get on your nerves. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mister know-it-all, when it’s the best time to say that you love someone then?”

“Before somebody else does, duh!”

The situation, his response, everything was so stupidly out of place that you laughed too. So maybe you were going crazy, and this was just a symptom. So does that mean that Steve is crazy too? Upon looking at him, you could see that even though he was laughing, he had a heartbroken look.

“And what about you?” you asked, wondering if he would tell you what was wrong.

“It’s simple. My relationship was bullshit. I am bullshit. Nancy does not love me.” He paused. “Her words, not mine,” he added, staring at the ceiling.

Ouch. That was hard. You tried to think what would be worst, seeing Eddie with another girl as just happened or hearing him saying the exact words that Nancy told Steve. Unfortunately, love is on nobody’s side today.

“Life is complicated.”

“And girls are cruel,” Steve said under his breath.

You wondered if Eddie thought that you were kissing Billy, that you wanted Billy for yourself. Would he think something so utterly absurd as this? You haven't told him what Billy did, what happened, even with uncle Wayne insisting you should do it. You wish you had heard him. Does Eddie believe that you are just another cruel girl like Steve thinks? Wouldn’t he know that you want him and only him?

Then you remember what Steve mentioned: You never told Eddie how you felt. Did you have to? You never asked him how he felt, so you are not sure. Maybe he doesn’t even care about you, and you let yourself create expectations about something that would never happen. Perhaps it was not meant to be. It was a dream, nothing more than that, and that dream was taken away from you.

“Well, that’s it; I’ll go outside for a bit,” you say.

“Wait, what? What are you going to do outside?”

“Cry, of course.”

“Not on my watch, little lady! Wait here” Steve stood up and left.

It was hard to see him go - you have just now noticed how he helped distract you from your pain. But he quickly came back with two cups of punch. The dammed punch that caused so much trouble for both of you tonight.

“A toast… to those who want but can’t have... And to those who had and want to forget.”

You clink your cups and drink slowly as if you would drown your sorrows in the drink or let it drown you so you wouldn’t feel anything anymore. So you stand there in silence a little longer until Steve nudges you. “C’mon, let me take you home.”

He wraps his arms around you and helps you get back on your feet. None of you is in the mood to listen to music or to talk more as he drives you home. When you arrive, you notice that Eddie’s van is not there. He has yet to come back home. You wonder if he is still out there with that girl.

“Hey, I just want you to know… you are not just Nancy’s friend to me… you are my friend too. I’m here if you need anything.”

If anyone told you before that Steve would be standing by your side helping you deal with your heartbreak, you would never believe them. But it happened.

“Thank you, Steve. I mean it,” you tell him as you climb out of his passenger seat, trying to infuse your voice with gratitude before heading inside your home.

As you put your head on the pillow to try to sleep, you want to forget everything that happened, scared of facing what the next day will bring. You keep repeating what you would like to ask Eddie if you could, as a mantra, while you try to fall asleep:

“Please, please, don’t fall in love with her.”