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munsonsreputation · 1 month

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WATCH THAT SCENE!

eddie munson x fem!reader

word count: [2.3k]

warnings: warnings: no use of y/n, mild cursing, overall fluff!!!

summary: the kids need help learning how to dance for their formal and you're their last resort, but they should've known not to count your suave boyfriend eddie out.

The sun had begun setting in the small town, the burnt twinge of orange and yellow tumbling over the sky where clouds grew drabber and the bright blue following behind. The air was the perfect kind of crisp that blew smoothly against your legs and face, easing the warmth that had developed from the hours of stretches, flips, kicks, and jumps.

All of the others girl had left the parking lot, only leaving you behind, though Chrissy was kind enough to offer you a ride, but you knew Eddie was going to there any minute. And so you beamed when his van came turning into the school zone, the music slowly being turned down as he saw you standing outside the gym already approaching his car.

“How was practice, baby?” He hailed out towards the open passenger window, smiling widely.

You rolled your eyes playfully, opening the door to toss your things into the backseat before settling into the soft velvet cushion beside him. Eddie was already jutting his chin out towards you when you giggled, holding a hand on his cheek to stabilize yourself and pressing your lips together.

He tasted like mint and cigarettes. A combination that you’d never get sick of because despite how much you hated that he smoked those cancer sticks, he always chewed a piece of gum before ever trying to go in for a kiss with you.

“I can’t wait to shower.” You groaned, combing your fingers through your oily hair when he finally started driving away from the school.

Cheer practice was always muggy and gross. Getting tossed in the air time and time again, then proceeding to touch the sweaty mats that everyone practically laid on and touched made you feel icky. It was always routine for you to get into a shower after practice and scrub the living daylights out of your skin.

Eddie looked over at you, cursing under his breath a little at his forgetfulness.

“Shit! Sorry, babe, but Henderson called—he asked if we could swing my Joyce and Hops.”

You shrugged, shaking your head not bothered by the pit-stop since it was always nice to see the kids especially since you were so busy these days.

The only time you really got to see them was if Eddie had a campaign that ran late or on weekends when Eddie was in charge of dropping them off and picking them up.

“It’s fine, as long as I get a shower in the next few hours. Did he say why?”

He shook his head, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “He sounded panicky and annoyed. A lot of voices and music in the background, though.”

“Well, panicky and annoyed, isn’t unusual?” You quipped, and he cackled, switching lanes to take the route.

“We’ll find out in a little bit.”

The Byers-Hopper living room had now been infiltrated by all the younger teens, including the older ones: Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, and Steve. The older four had been called to by Dustin, begging them to come over and show them a few dance moves that they could use for the winter formal.

But bless Dustin Henderson’s heart, because while they might have had a few proms and formals as dance experience, none of them were “experts” at dancing — or at least none met his standards.

For god's sake, even Nancy and Jonathan, who were a couple since forever, looked like a pair of stiff bodies moving back and forth when they tried to demonstrate how to dance when a slow song came on.

And you would think that someone as charming as Steve would have some sort of groove when it came to dancing, but Jesus, no, he looked even more rigid and awkward.

Don’t even get them started on Robin, who bursted out in laughter when she tried to dance with Steve but failed within the first three seconds because she had accidentally stomped on his foot thinking she was leading.

It even came to the point where they confided in Hopper and Joyce who had arrived home from work to their living room furniture pushed against the walls to make room for a makeshift dance floor. A cassette played loudly through the radio and everyone seemed to be a jumbling mess.

Well, the mess became even bigger when Hopper and Joyce tried to show them a move or two, which just ended up with everyone laughing and burying their faces in their hands at the scene. El, Will, and Jonathan cringed more so than laughed, but now they knew their parents were probably the worst dancers than themselves at than alone was a core memory.

That’s when Dustin threw in the towel and decided to make a call to his dear friend Eddie. Eddie who was about to leave his trailer to pick you up from practice so you could get home and shower, then finish the movie you two fell asleep to last night.

But nevertheless, Dustin sounded frantic and desperate, begging for him to bring you over and alas Eddie gave in.

The boy finally saw the van pull into the driveway and shot up from the couch where he had been resting, watching through the window.

“Shut the music off, Steve!” He shouted, stumbling up and towards the front door.

Everyone rose their brows, Steve following Dustin’s instruction and pausing the cassette that El had let them borrow for the day’s impromptu dance party. Before you and Eddie could even knock on the door, it was pulled open.

The scene of everyone staring at the metal head and cheerleader, quite shocking actually—more shocking than the stares in the hallways at school, which were pretty dreadful already.

You side-eyed Eddie suspiciously wondering what he had gotten you both into before looking back at Dustin.

“Hi?” you squeaked suspiciously, twiddling your hand in the air to greet everyone who waved.

The boy smirked, grabbing you by the wrist and pulling you inside roughly without a second thought.

“Dustin, what the hell!” You shrieked having no choice but to move with him in order to avoid tripping over your own feet.

Eddie rolled his eyes, stepping inside and shutting the door closed.

“Henderson, you’ve got three seconds to tell me why you’re dragging my girlfriend like a rag doll.”

Dustin apologetically bowed towards Eddie, dropping your arm and gesturing to the open floor.

Everyone else was either leaning up against the wall or sitting down on the couch, trying to get some rest after the young boy practically forced them to keep dancing until they had something, but nothing was good enough for the damn twerp.

“You know how to dance, right?” Dustin stared at you, and you bounced on your heels, nodding your head slightly.

“I mean, cheerleading does require some dancing but—“

Dustin shushed you, causing you to furrow your brows, and looked around dumbfounded at the action. Steve and Robin were already shooting you sorry looks as they muttered something about his tone and needing a smack to the head.

“Henderson, just tell us why we’re here?” Eddie rubbed at his temples.

He plopped on the empty seat next to Max who looked rather peeved at being stuck there all afternoon when she could have been at the arcade playing Dig-Dug.

She turned to him, gesturing in the air with annoyed hands. “Dustin wants us to learn how to dance for this weekend’s formal.”

Lucas pipped in, looking at the crowd before settling on you. “No one knows how to dance except you.”

A small smile grew upon your face, looking around the room at the sullen faces that were offended at Lucas’ words — mostly Hopper and Joyce, because back in their day, they were pretty darn good dancers if they said so themselves.

Eddie sat up from his spot on the couch, shooting a deceitful look at Lucas while gesturing fondly to himself.

“What? You don’t think she’s the only good dancer around here do you?”

Mike grunted, mumbling under his breath, “You sure don’t look like you knew how to command a dance floor.”

Everyone seemed to agree with Mike, which was extremely rare, even for Hopper who didn’t like the kid all that much.

You crossed your arms, shaking your head at the little shitheads and more offended that they thought your boyfriend couldn't dance.

“Hey! Did you forget Eddie is in a band? He practically eats, sleeps, and breathes rhythm.” You reasoned with a tilt of your head, trying to sway them.

Everyone tried to stifle their laughter but failed terribly. I mean could you blame them?

Eddie played metal music, not that pop disco shit that would be playing at the formal, but that’s because they thought wrong about him. They all thought they had your boy all figured out as the stereotypical metal head that couldn’t dance to save his life, but you were about to make them eat their words.

Contrary to popular beliefs, Eddie was quite the dancer, and a good one at that. He knew how to keep up the pace and swoop you off your feet so smoothly you’d think he was a professional in his past life.

You shot Eddie that look, lifting your shoulders with the silent offer as he looked almost coy before nodding at you, scooting off the couch and shaking his arms off getting himself warmed up.

You glanced at Steve, pointing at the stereo, “Hit it!”

Eddie moved across the floor to you effortlessly, hands going for your hips while you draped yours over his neck — you were like magnets easily finding each other. Your feet slid back and forth, one after the other, following Eddie’s lead that flowed with the music.

“How did you guys know Eddie and I love to dance to ABBA?” You called towards your friends who watched in astonishment.

“You can dance?!” they screeched, eyes widening as they all straightened up in their seats and off the walls, watching with the utmost surprise and shock.

You began to giggle as your boyfriend spun you around into his chest, swaying you both while he placed a kiss on your cheek before spinning you back out.

“Just like the songs says, you just gotta feel the beat.” Eddie rose his brow at them, moving your hips in his hands before you shook your head at his playfulness.

“C’mon, we’ll show you.” You told them, pushing at his chest so that you could skip on over towards Dustin, pulling him to the center of the living room with you.

Eddie went for Max, tilting his head for her to follow his lead and not be so nervous.

“It’s really all about keeping the pace and the beat.” He instructed, looking down at their shoes and Max did her best to not step on his sneakers that were already pretty beat up.

“And loosen up,” you chided, nudging Dustin a bit, “relax those shoulders and move those hips.” You instructed, showing him to roll his shoulders back and swirl his lower body as if he was hula-hooping.

After a while, they started to get the hang of it, easily moving across the floors without stepping on each other’s feet and not being so tense.

“Great, now you two try!” You nodded, handing off Dustin towards Max.

It was awkward at first, the both of them laughing as they didn’t know where to put their hands, but quickly it became natural with what you and Eddie had taught, the basics of keeping up with the rhythm and singing along.

You huffed with hands on your hips, looking around the room for your next student, while Eddie had already grabbed Joyce who was a giggly mess.

“C’mon Mr. Hips, I know they don’t call you king Steve for nothing.” You teased, tiptoeing towards your friend and pulling him along with you.

Before you knew it, the living room was a lively dance floor. Bodies grooving along to music without even second guessing if they were doing it right and just having fun with each other as they sung and tried not to bump into the pair beside them.

“Maybe we should open up a studio and start teaching some classes?” You suggested with a grin, resting your chin on Eddie’s chest, staring up at him.

He chucked, pecking at your nose sweetly, “Don’t get ahead of yourself babe, you know my dancing services are limited to you. This was just a special occasion.”

“Do you have any other talents you want to reveal?” Dustin nudged him with his elbow, prompting Eddie to smirk toward him before looking back at you.

“I can do a pretty gnarly lift, exactly like that one in Dirty Dancing.” He bragged, still pretty surprised at himself that he was able to pull it off.

The girls in the room gasped, including Steve, “No way!”

“Yes way,” You bit your lip with a giggle, remembering that one afternoon you and Eddie had spent together trying to get it down after you had watched the movie.

Steve dropped Robin’s hand, wandering over to the stereo and pausing the track before picking it up by the handle and walking towards the front door. Everyone stared at him, waiting until he sighed, one hand on his hip as he looked at you and Eddie.

“You guys need more room than this. We’re moving outside and that lift better be top tier.” He warned towards Eddie, walking out the front door as everyone else followed his lead.

You and Eddie laughed at how ridiculous it all was — surely none of the kids were going to attempt to pull off a lift in the middle of their formal dance, but it was sure gonna be funny watching everyone else have their try at it.

Eddie hoisted you up, prompting you to laugh into the crook of neck, “C’mon baby, I’m about to blow their socks off.” He said, kissing your cheek with an obnoxiously loud smooch before carrying you out the door.

So maybe you didn’t get to go home and get that shower or finish that movie as soon as you would have liked to, but you sure did get to dance that afternoon away with the love of your life and that in itself was a win.

💌 reblogs, tags, comments, + likes are greatly appreciated! leave a comment and let me know if want to be added to my taglist!! 💌

a/n: i have been neglecting my beloved eddie for far too long and this has been sitting in my drafts since forever so here ya go!!! yes eddie is a dancer and that is not up for debate -- yeah my man loves his metal music, but the second he hears a good pop tune he's pulling his gf up and they're dancing like no one is watching.

taglist: @translatemunson @kennedy-brooke @manda-panda-monium @tvserie-s-world @givemeth @steveharringtonswife @the-alchemys @loving-and-dreaming @awkotaco24 @engenelxver @elfiaaaa @pbs-theundeadmaggot @johnricharddeacy @gaysludge @keerysfolklore @micheledawn1975 @ihatepeanutss @bakugouswh0r3

#munsonsreputation #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fic #eddie munson imagines #edde munson fluff #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson headcanons #eddie munson drabble #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x cheerleader!reader #eddie stranger things #stranger things eddie #stranger things fic #stranger things fluff

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nburkhardt · 10 months

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Feels Like the World's Gonna End (But I'll Get You Through)

This was supposed to be small, oops. Hopefully it reads okay! Also small warning: panic attacks, flashbacks. Hurt/Comfort, lots of cuddles & kisses at the end ✨ (btw when you see ~ it means a pov change.)

To a regular person, July 4th is a good day. It’s a day to celebrate and enjoy one another.

To Steve Harrington it is everything but.

Getting tortured either on or around July 4th would definitely change your opinion on the day. It would cause panic and anxiety.

He’s kept it close to his chest, what happened behind those steel doors. Kept it minimal with the rest of who was involved with the Russians. Robin especially doesn’t know exactly what happened to him when they separated them. Dustin and Erica doesn’t even know the torture happened, Steve and Robin kept it quiet.

The rest of their group didn’t even believe them about the Russians at first, so he couldn’t figure out how to bring it up. Since at the time Hopper was gone, believed to be dead and Joyce was grieving. Steve felt like he couldn’t speak to her about it, didn’t want to bring it up.

So, close to his chest is where it all stays.

————— July 4th, 1986 —————

Vecna defeated and with that the upside down is no longer around, everyone is finally able to breathe a little easier.

The Byers are back in Hawkins, living in a brand new home that they were able to finally finish putting together to hold the start of a new tradition of get togethers with their group and then some.

Today is the official start of said tradition. Everyone is meeting up and going to enjoy the day together, like normal regular people.

Or make an attempt to be normal regular people, for Steve at least. He’s been more, jumpy lately and luckily not a lot of people have notice. Sure, it’s been a good few months since everything went down and everyone is doing okay.

But the whole first part of July is just not Steve’s favorite anymore. Technically the whole month, if he’s being completely honest.

Which is just shitty, since his birthday is also July 4th.

Not that anyone knows, he kept that particular fact to himself. Celebrates it at the end, so everyone believes it’s the 31st instead. Which is fine, really it is. He’s not too picky when it comes to celebrating, before everything it was stuffy parties full of his parents friends and coworkers. Then it was parties to get drunk with classmates.

It’s been better since Dustin came into his life, since Robin and now with everyone else it’s good. It is.

Just with everything that happened in March on top of his unresolved trauma from last year, he can’t help but feel like something is going to come down.

Something is about to happen and it’s not great that this is going through his head as he’s sitting on the ledge of the Byers’ wall watching the kids run around like the teenagers they are or hearing laughter all around him.

There’s a genuine smile on his face as he watches Eddie spin Erica around and the honest to god joyful childlike smile on her face. It makes his heart beat a little faster, seeing not just Erica be the child that she is but also just Eddie.

He knows he’s in love with Eddie, has for a while. But he can’t bring himself to make a move, even if Robin swears Eddie has to have the same feelings. That there’s a chance but the last time he took one with the L word, his heart got stumped on.

So, he’ll stay right here and watch from his spot, listen to them be happy and enjoy the holiday. All while anxiously waiting for something to happen. His mind is set on it, even if he’s trying not to let those thoughts win.

Before he can even register anything, suddenly his vision is blocked and his heart rate immediately goes up as he’s also picked up and being moved. It’s so sudden that the anxiety he’s been having is loud and clear, telling him this is real.

This is happening. He’s being taken again. The Russians are here or wait- he never left, never escaped and his mind has finally decided to remind him of his new reality. That they’re here to break him more, hit him more, maybe they’ll actually go through and cut his fingers off now.

Still, he struggles and tries to escape. He whimpers out first, a wounded and pathetic sound even to his own ears. Opening his mouth and out comes, “I work at scoops ahoy! I didn’t mean to find it, I swear! You have to believe me, please!”

His mind flashes again to the absolute sinister look the Russian soldier has, shows him the bone saw and he can hear it start. There’s tears going down his face, even with whatever they put on him. Heart beating so fast, he’s shaking and struggling.

“Please, please! I just scoop ice cream!” He’s screaming, his throat hurts and they won’t stop. “I don’t know anything, Please!”

The arms around him are gone, with those gone he hits the ground hard and he scrambles to get away. Sobbing and trying to get away without vision, “let me go, please, please. I just work at scoops ahoy I didn’t mean to find anything! I didn’t see anything, I swear!”

Curling into a ball, he tries to stop but he can’t. He can’t see, he’s stuck under the mall and doesn’t know where Robin is- doesn’t know where Dustin and Erica are, he’s all alone.

Alone with evil people who want to hurt him.

Everyone freezes and their face go pale as they watch Steve curling into a ball rocking himself, sobbing into his legs. Pleading to stop hurting him, to believe him.

It’s heartbreaking.

Eddie has to shake himself to get moving, he glares at Lucas, Mike and Dustin as he quickly drops Erica’s hands to make it across the yard to Steve, “what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“We didn’t mean to scare him!”

“It was just a prank!”

He shakes his head and decides they aren’t important here, that the one sobbing is who he needs to pay attention to. Kneeling next to Steve, he doesn’t touch; not yet at least. He takes a deep breath before trying to get Steve out of this, “Steve, Steve, you’re okay.”

Steve only sobs harder, shaking his head.

“Stevie, hey, come on. You’re not there, whenever you are. It’s not real” he hopes his voice doesn’t sound as shaky as he feels, “Stevie, you’re at the Byers house, in the backyard.”

“You’re lying, this-this is a trick!” Steve sobs out, “it-it won’t work, I don’t know anything about any Russian code-”

There’s a few gasps around him and he looks over his shoulder to find Dustin’s eyes widen and Robin’s face pales even more, “It’s- it’s gotta be a flashback, he’s- we- Eddie, he thinks he’s in the bunker, from last year- under Starcourt”

“I don’t know anything, I swear. I work at scoops ahoy, I just scoop ice cream. Please, please let me go!”

All he can do is feel heartbroken all over again, feels helpless as Steve sobs in front of him. Eddie looks away from everyone else and focuses on Steve instead. He doesn’t want to touch yet, doesn’t want to make Steve freak out even more.

“Steve, listen to me. You are not at the bunker, you’re safe. I’m Eddie, it’s Eddie. It’s July 4th, 1986. You are not at Starcourt, you’re safe” his voice wavers towards the end, listening to Steve sob is not what he wanted to ever hear.

All Steve does is shake his head and sobs more.

Taking another moment to breathe, he leans towards him slowly and pulls the cloth off Steve’s head. “Open your eyes, please sweetheart. Open them and you’ll see me, see Eddie.”

Behind him he can hear someone else crying, can hear Joyce and Hopper whispering to each other and hear everyone not in the know try and figure out why Steve is freaking out. It doesn’t pull his attention away though, his vision is just on Steve.

He refuses to look away, actually.

Steve’s tears don’t stop, the rocking though is finally stopping, his arms are still tight around his knees but he moves his head up and slowly blinks. It takes a few minutes and Eddie can see when it finally clicks in Steve’s mind. His face is suddenly white and he tightens his arms again, “Ed-Eddie?”

Nodding, he shuffles a little closer, “Yeah Stevie, it’s me. You’re okay”

“No, no- I” Steve’s eyes are red and wide as his eyes jump from him to everyone behind him, “I need to go- I can’t- I can’t-”

Without any words he moves quickly, gets up and helps Steve up. Tucking him under his arm and pulls close, leading him away from the house and now the shouts from everyone else. Eddie ignores them too, focus on getting Steve away.

They end up at his new trailer.

Eddie takes a moment in the kitchen to calm himself down a bit more before picking up the mugs of tea and making his way back into his room where Steve is. He pushes the door open, a small smile on his face as he makes his way over.

Steve has the blankets pulled all the way to his chin, he’s staring at the wall with tears still streaming down his face but there’s no more sobs.

“I got us some tea” he raises the Garfield mug up, “got your favorite cup too”

It causes a wobbly smile and Eddie’ll call that a small victory. Steve lets the blankets fall down and takes the mug, blowing it before taking a small sip. Eddie follows his lead and does the same. Only moving just to get under the blankets, making sure to rest his legs touching Steve’s.

It’s quiet the only noises coming from outside, from the other residents enjoying the holiday.

Even though the tea is gone, Steve still has the mug in his hands. They’ve been in the trailer for two hours now. Eddie doesn’t want to push, but he’s also very concerned and wants to make sure that he’s okay.

“Stevie, are you okay?”

Steve rolls the mug in his hands as he shrugs, “I don’t know, that um, that’s never happened before”

He nods, tapping the mug and once Steve lets it go, grabs it and places it next to his own mug. Looking at Steve, he’s never seen such a defeated look on his face. It’s wrong and Eddie hates it.

“It’s o- well, it’s not okay. I’m sorry the boys were assholes. You don’t have to tell me, not right now. We can just sit here and skip out on the party.” He won’t make him explain it, not right now.

That’s not important currently, what’s important is making sure Steve feels okay and safe again.

Steve just leans against the wall, a sigh coming out of his mouth before he looks at him. “I, I got tortured last year. Um, I haven’t told anyone. It was-”

He shakes his head and pulls him close to hug him, “Steve- Stevie, you don’t have to talk about it right now. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, right now I just want you to calm down and make sure you’re okay”

Steve looks at him and blinks back tears before nearly crashing them down against the bed. He tucked his head against Eddie’s neck and wraps his arms around him. Eddie does the same and holds him, rubbing his back and squeezing him close.

They stay like that, until the tears are gone and they can hear muffled fireworks going off now. Eddie’s on his back now with Steve cuddled next to him, head on his chest.

It’s a lot more intimate than they normally are, they’ve shared a bed before several times, actually. They’re close and both crave touch, but never this close. There’s something different swirling around them.

“Eds?”

He hums out and continues on with the pattern he’s making against Steve’s back with his fingers, “yeah?”

“It’s my birthday” Steve whispers it, like it’s a secret.

He freezes, hand completely flat against Steve’s back now. His whole body goes nearly stiff under him, because what?

“What?”

Steve shrugs, moves slightly to look at him, “today, it’s my birthday. I um, I’m officially 20”

He blinks and sits up more, confusion all over his face, “You- you got tortured on your birthday?”

The only answer he gets is a nod, Steve shifts back to cuddle him. “Yeah, kept it to myself. They, everyone, doesn’t know.”

It makes his heart hurt hearing that Steve was tortured on his birthday and that they didn’t know. It’s only as that thought goes through his mind, that he goes over what Steve said.

“They know it’s your birthday, right?”

Steve shook his head, squeezing his arms and hiding his face. He can feel his shirt start to get damp, making itself known that Steve is tearing up again.

“Stevie, why don’t the-” he shakes his head, deciding questions aren’t needed right now. He doesn’t need explanations, actually.

Right now all he wants is to hug and keep this man safe.

Eventually the sounds of fireworks die out, soon just chirps from birds and the wind blowing against the trees, muffled sounds of people laughing is all the white noise they need to fall asleep, along with how comfortable they both are.

They’re also emotionally drained, Steve especially.

He feels warm, comfortable and safe. He cuddles his pillow more and freezes for a split second when it shifts. It takes another second to remember where he is, who he’s with and what happened.

Steve’s cheeks burn as he shifts to look at Eddie under him, he’s still asleep. Looks relaxed and soft, beautiful. It makes his heart start to beat a little faster.

Eddie starts to open his eyes and he squints at him, “Staring is creepy, Stevie”

Quickly he shifts away from him and looks everywhere but at Eddie. He feels the bed move and hopes Eddie isn’t about to kick him out for staring.

“Hey, I wasn’t ready to give up with the cuddles” Eddie whines, and Steve knows that if he looks he’ll find a pout on Eddie’s face.

He shakes his head and fights back the smile, “I’m sorry”

“Don’t say sorry, I want the Stevie cuddles.” Eddie smiles and moves closer, wrapping his arms around him, “come on, it’s like-“ he glanced at his alarm clock, “it’s four in the morning, let’s sleep, okay? I won’t accept any sorry or explanations until the sun is out and I have breakfast with my favorite person”

All Steve can do is nod his head, slowly moving with Eddie to lay back down.

It’s quiet, Steve can feel Eddie’s fingers doing twirls and lines against his back. It’s slowing down and Steve can tell Eddie’s falling back asleep.

It’s nice, this is wonderful maybe even perfect. Steve wonders if this is what it’d be like if they were in a relationship together. If Eddie is even more touchy, if the nicknames extend past the normal Stevie and sweetheart.

“I can hear you thinking, Stevie”

He freezes and looks up to see Eddie already looking towards him, “sorry?”

“No need to be sorry, just, why are you still awake?”

Looking away, he thinks about it. Really thinks about it and maybe, just maybe, he could be a little more vulnerable with Eddie. Thinks that of all the people to immediately act and help him, was Eddie. That he took him away from all the eyes and took him home, gave him tea and held him.

So, he can be a brave right now.

Moving, he sits up and brings Eddie with him. He’s confused but moves willingly. They’re just looking at each other and he needs another moment to get his mind set. Taking a deep breath, he grabs hold on Eddie’s hands.

“Eddie, I need to tell you something and I don’t want this to ruin anything between us. I really, really hope this doesn’t ruin it. Because you’re important to me. So please, just listen to me and promise you’ll still be here”

Eddie blinks, confused and concerned.

“You can tell me anything, sweetheart.”

He nods and tightens his hands around Eddie’s before blowing out some air, “I, I thin- no, I know I love you. I’m in love with you, Eddie. For a while now but I was scared and worried that if I said that word, that I’d be left alone and you’d leave. But after what you did for me, I- I need you to know that I feel this way for you.”

It’s quiet and Steve can’t keep looking at Eddie as the time keeps passing by, he wants to bolt, wants to leave; needs to leave if Eddie stays quiet longer.

Feels like an eternity has passed before he feels Eddie’s hands on his face, as they move him to look at him. Makes him realize not only was he crying but Eddie’s tearing up now.

“Eddie I-”

“Don’t apologize, if that’s what you were going to do, please don’t apologize. Actually, stop apologizing to me today. I need you to realize I don’t need them, and I don’t need you thinking you have to leave, either.”

All he can do is shut his mouth, another sorry on the tip of his tongue. Eddie’s mouth tips to knowing smile, before he moves his hands down and around his neck.

“Stevie, I’m going to kiss you now. Okay?”

This is not where he thought he’d end up, but as Eddie smiles again before coming in close. He’ll take it.

He’s imagined kissing Eddie, of course. Has had dreams that woke him up needing a cold shower, had a million thoughts and wants, but it has nothing on actually kissing him.

The first kiss is salty from tears, it’s soft despite the chapped lips. It’s everything and more. His favorite part isn’t the kiss itself, though this will become addicting eventually, no his favorite part is Eddie resting his forehead against his own and the quick kiss to his nose before pulling back with a smile and, “I’m in love with you too, honey love”

Steve matches that smile, feeling high and happy. So happy, he immediately wraps his arms around Eddie in a joyful hug with tears and laughter. “I love you so much, Eddie”

They spend the rest of the night curled together. The next morning will be filled with more laughter, kisses and cuddles. Eventually they’ll talk about what happened, those explanations will be needed and heard. Someday, in the future, Steve will be honest with everyone and tell them what he went to.

For now, they’re settled on the couch lazily making out. Everything else put on hold, they deserve a lazy day together.

— —

UH, this was supposed to be a short hurt/comfort thing for the 4th of July, but it uhhhh got away from me? Like really got away. Anyway, i hope you enjoyed it! If you saw any mistakes let me know!!

Quick shout out to @i-less-than-three-you for helping out with this! Thanks for listening to me talk myself into this and then help with some of the plot )she came up with Steve’s birthday idea 😈) so thank you and I love you 🩷

Permanent tag list: (if you want to be added let me know!!)

@spectrum-spectre @itsfreakingbats @mysticcrownshipper @artiststarme @thereindeerlady @justforthedead89 @ronniescontinuum @freyaforestafay @littlewildflowerkitten @estrellami-1 @gregre369 @zerokrox-blog @bookworm0690 @flustratedcas @carlprocastinator1000 @marvelmwah @solliesolesito @navnae @i-less-than-three-you

#steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington angst #nburkhardt writes #Steve x eddie #stranger things fic #Steve Harrington fic #Eddie Munson fic #Steve x eddie fic

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findafight · 1 year

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Ohhh fic where Steve and Robin and Dustin and Erica all casually make funny little haha jokes with each other about getting tortured/almost caught by the Russians under Starcourt because they all have that shared trauma and had many a long late night calls reassuring each other they're alive and playing dnd together and fulfilling lifetime supply of icecream obligations.

They do this because sure the rest of the party knew there were Russians under Starcourt but everything they went through in that basement was sorta...forgotten in the aftermath of literal flesh monster. And with Hopper dead and the Byers moving, there's so much happening that whatever happened to Steve's face (lost another fight...) and why he and Robin went from mildly antagonistic co-workers to codependent goobers who couldn't go literally a day without seeing the other or what made Dustin always ask if Erica was going to come for party hang outs are all sort of brushed under the rug. Not a big deal, really. Bigger things happening after everything.

And they cope together and scoops troop is a weird little section of the party no one but them really understands. Robin and Steve are attached at the hip and to a lesser extent so are Erica and Dustin (but they'll never admit it), and they all have mini gatherings together.

So, the casual mentioning of starcourt and specifically what went down with the Russians is commonplace for them. (Erica is quick to remind them she saved their asses, and are they so lame they need her help again? but she smiles and Steve and Robin just laugh and give her a big hug.) And somehow, they forget that not everyone really knows what went down before July 4th 1985.

And I want them to do it in front of everyone. I want them to have their stupid "this was so fucked up but we're alive and we got through it so now we have to laugh or we may never stop crying about it" banter at a big "we saved the world again!" Barbecue. I want the rest of the folks there to go silent and them not to notice.

I want someone to mention Steve not getting a black eye this time, congrats! and Robin going "the only reason why I didn't get one last time was because the Russians said-"

And Steve, who is lying with his head in her lap, reaches up to gently cup her cheek and says in a terrible Russian accent "don't worry, we will not ruin your pretty face!" (everyone is quiet around them, they do not notice)

She laughs. "And punched me in the gut a few more times. I peed blood for like, three days."

Steve goes "ewwww" only to be pinched by robin.

"you peed blood too, dingus. You got it worse than me and my pretty face."

He giggles and opens his hand up for a high five "pissing blood buddies, hell yeah!" And shifts in her lap. "But they bruised my pretty face. Rude."

"aww. It's okay, Stevie, your face is still so pretty. Prettiest boy in Hawkins."

"thanks Robin."

"at least Dustin and Erica got us out before they started ripping out fingernails." She shudders.

"or used the bonesaw"

"mmm. Unfortunately not before we got funky truth serum drugs though."

He leans up, looking at the two "y'all couldn't have been a bit faster?" But he's smiling, teasing. A well worn joke.

Dustin and Erica respond simultaneously with "I'm missing bones, Steve, what do you want from me?" And "I was ten and my legs were short as shit. Beggars can't be choosers." Respectively.

It is at this point an Actual Grown Up butts in.

"what. What do you mean ripping out fingernails?"

Robin and Steve look towards Joyce, who asked.

"like. To interrogate us? Because we just kept saying we worked for scoops even with the truth serum."

"because they thought we had to be superspies to get into their creepy lair and not a bunch of kids."

"mmhmm"

Hopper jumps in "wait. You were tortured by them?"

Robin and Steve give him eerily similar looks that express how obvious the answer to that is.

"yeah, duh."

"I don't go looking to get brain damage every year, you know."

Hoppers eye twitches. "Why didn't you say anything?"

#steve Harrington #robin Buckley #erica sinclair #dustin henderson #scoops troop #the party #stranger things #platonic stobin #stobin #i want eddie to be the only one who knows bc they were assigned to fill him in on the upsidedown so obvs it came up #and he is like that is so fucked up but i guess it works for you? hopefully?#steddie #mayhaps....if i ever write more of this lmao #finda writes stuff #finda's rambles

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ladykailitha · 14 days

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Batshit Soulmates: Epilogue

Here it is. The end of an era. I struggled mightily with this one because I was so focused on canon that I forgot that I'm a writer and I can do what I want.

Once I got over myself the story just flowed so well it was done in two weeks.

But as I said last week, I'm a little mean to you in this. Spoiler under the cut.

In Medias Res| Prologue|Pt 1|Pt 2|Pt 3|Pt 4|Pt 5|Pt 6|Pt 7|Pt 8| Pt 9|

This ends the way season four does only with all the allies together not just some of them.

****

Nancy, Robin, and Dustin all returned to Steve’s house to make sure Eddie was safe.

Steve told Eddie that his uncle knew he was alive and would get into contact soon.

Eddie nearly cried in relief. “Thank you, Stevie.”

Then a car pulled up at that exact moment. Then of all things a pizza truck. Steve pushed Eddie into a nearby bathroom and looked out the window.

Out of the pizza truck hopped out both Byers boys, Mike, and the driver, a long haired native boy in a Hawaiian shirt. Then Joyce, Murray, and a very much alive Hopper exited the car.

And Steve’s heart nearly burst. He quickly ushered them all inside. His street had a lot of empty houses since the earthquake, the rich having somewhere else to go, but he didn’t trust the ones that remained.

Everyone was hugging everyone else. Jonathan and Nancy, El and Hopper. Joyce and Will. Everyone was safe. Max and the Sinclairs weren’t there, but they were safe too.

Robin, Steve and Eddie on the sidelines feeling happy that they were all reunited at last.

The first thing everyone did was tell their stories. El started, then the Byers, then Joyce and Murray, Hopper next, Steve and Dustin, then Nancy and Robin.

There was just so much to do.

“He’s still alive,” El said, “I couldn’t kill him. He hurt Max and I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t leave her and the bastard survived.”

Joyce scooped her up into her arms and rocked her back and forth, gently. “You did the right thing, sweetheart. Max is alive because of you.”

“We’re going to have to find a place to stash Hopper and El until this blows over,” Nancy said. “They can’t stay here, it’s already a risk with Eddie being here. But at least with him, Steve can claim truemate status.”

The heads of all the people who hadn’t been in Hawkins turned to Steve in shock.

“Eddie is your truemate?” Mike wailed. He sat down and put his head in his hands. “Of course he is. Fuck that makes too much sense.”

Steve could only agree, honestly.

Eddie put his arm around his waist and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I didn’t think so at first, but clearly the universe is smarter than we are.”

Dustin scoffed. “I think that could be said for most of the universe’s population, too.”

Both Eddie and Steve knocked off his hat together.

Robin cackled. “Hey, kids. If Steve’s the mom, then you all have a new step-dad!”

Joyce and Hopper chuckled but everyone else groaned.

Nancy tapped her foot irritated. “Can we get back on to the topic at hand, namely finding a place to put Hopper and El so the government doesn’t find them?”

“My cabin is in pretty shit shape,” Hopper admitted. “But I think if we all work together, we can make it livable again for me and Jane.”

Steve nodded. “That should work. No one found El when she was there before, so they should be safer there.”

“Just not everyone show up at once,” Joyce warned. “Too many people coming and going will alert others.”

Everyone agreed, but as they piled out of Steve’s house the sky lit up in red storm clouds. Ash fell upon Hawkins and ground trembled.

Everyone stopped on Steve’s lawn looking up at the sky, knowing Vecna had finally made his move.

The Upside Down was bleeding into the top world.

The war had begun.

****

I want to thank everyone for coming long with me on this ride. It's been fun!

Tag List: @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

@spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369

@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi

@messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv

@wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @vecnuthy @bookbinderbitch

@littlewildflowerkitten @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @scheodingers-muppet @cinnamon-mushroomabomination

@genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @irregular-child @oxidantdreamboat @mogami13

@samsoble @xandriumbat @ellietheasexylibrarian @lololol-1234 @y4r3luv

@disrespectedgoatman @king-zacharyy @chameleonhair @tinyplanet95 @thelittleclare

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #soulmate au

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kadorawrites · 2 years

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New Me - Steve Harrington x Reader

Summary: Hopper!reader is having a hard time adjusting to normalcy after the disappearance of her father, the death of her tumultuous ex-lover, and losing her only family to California. Instead of turning to her friends, she turns to isolation and partying to cope. Best friend, Steve Harrington, isn't about to let her drown.

Warnings: steve harrington x fem!reader, addiction, drug use

______________________________________________________________

The big sky darkens above the small balcony, where y/n leans against the railing, a cigarette dangling from her lips. She watches the sunset from her new apartment, provided by the police department's pension. She contemplated fixing up the cabin with Steve who offered to help. But the second they pulled up to the painfully familiar place, y/n broke into tears and hasn't worked up the courage to go back since.

She's a new person now, anyways. Barely eighteen, a high school senior, living on her own in some run down apartment building off the main road. Joyce insisted she come with them to California, but the thought of leaving Hawkins without her dad felt wrong. Like he would come back one day and make everything normal again. The Harringtons took her in for a bit until she turned 18, got the life insurance policy, and decided it was time to grow up. Steve would have let her stay with him forever if she wanted to.

But that was a long time ago and he barely recognizes her anymore. She's thinner, skin sunken in, dark circles under her eyes, hair smells like cigarettes, a stoic look on her face whenever they're at work. At least he has that, the only time she's somewhat normal is at the video store where he and Robin begged Keith to give y/n a job. Luckily, she had an extensive Hitchcock knowledge that he found rather impressive and hired her on the spot. Even threatened to fire Steve, which he would have gladly obliged if it meant y/n would get out of the house and have a normal routine.

She wasn't the same though, and Steve had no idea what to do to bring her back. He'd crack jokes as usual, only getting a small smile from her every so often. He invites her to hang out after work almost every shift, yet she declines every time. Steve has an idea what she's doing. Rumors get around in a small town like Hawkins, and when the dead police chief's daughter is seen snorting white powder off some preppies bathroom counter, everyone and their mother hears about it.

Steve refused to believe this new party girl persona. Yeah, they used to get hammered together at parties last year, but what he was hearing about y/n was just not her. It wasn't until he was smacked in the face with the truth one night that he realized his best friend was too far gone.

A few of months ago, at the start of school, one of Steve's many dates dragged him to a high school party. He wandered through the halls in search of bathroom, stumbling into a bedroom. Steve's eyes landed on a half naked y/n, straddling some jock, her skirt pushed up to her waist, her head dangling back as she moaned, the boy's lips attached to her neck. Steve stood paralyzed until y/n looked up at him, her red eyes wide and wild. She gave him a wicked smirk, as the jock pushed into her, then continued her moans, not breaking eye contact with Steve. He shut the door quick, before running down the stairs and into the front lawn. He hunched over, the alcohol coming up, and vomited onto the grass. Steve wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

They never spoke about that night. Hell, he doesn't know if she even remembers it. How could she be so evil? After everything they've been through? After he confessed his feelings for her in the mall bathroom?

But that drug-hazed conversation on the bathroom floor felt like a different life and y/n felt like a different girl. She was class president, soccer captain, life of the party, the chief's daughter who wouldn't take shit from anyone. Now the town pities the sad girl with a dead dad and sister, and an absent mother. The girl with a slight drug addiction and failing grades. The girl who'll sleep with any guy just to feel something.

Back on her balcony she blows smoke out into the sunset, calming her down. A muted pain covers the back of her head, she winces. A drop of blood falls onto the railing. Y/n wipes her nose, trickles of dark red blood smear onto the back of her hand. The pounding in her head beats harder and harder.

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temptingfatetakingnames · 4 months

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The Last Steve Harrington Part 12

AO3 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

The sky was red and Eddie was terrified.

He was doing his best on defense – his connection to the bats through Vecna allowed him to influence them – but there were just too many. If he had more time to practice he probably could have kept them back but as it was he was barely keeping up with the ones making it through their lines. He could fully influence only one at a time, so he had to wait until one got close to his friends before he could order it to fuck off. Which meant that everyone was suffering from various bites and tail marks but at least no one had been dragged away and strangled. It also meant he had to constantly whip his head around to keep his eyes on everyone. Nancy, Hopper, Joyce, and Johnathan were doing a good job shooting them down but he knew their ammunition could only last so long.

In the middle of it all, a child and a monster locked eyes, a battle raging between them that no one else could see. The strain of it was clear on their faces. Vecna – inhuman and snarling. Eleven – blood dripping from her nose and tiring. She was losing. Her hands shook as she held them out in front her, and a harsh gasp escaped her clenched teeth as she fell to one knee. Vecna approached her slowly, a grin stretching across his evil face. He thought it was over, he thought he had won.

Eddie turned, as if in slow motion, to see Steve suddenly break through the swarm and approach Vecna from behind. Quiet as a ninja. He swung that god damned nail bat at him like it was Excalibur, nothing but pure determination on his face. He must have known it wasn’t going to kill him, probably wouldn’t even hurt him but that wasn’t his goal. Vecna turned to strike at him, and it gave Eleven the opening she needed to get back on her feet.

Steve went flying and Eleven screamed with more rage than Eddie had ever heard from another person. Her eyes went black and the ground caved in around her feet. In that moment of distraction, with Vecna still turned away from her, she put everything she had left into an attack…and Vecna stumbled as Steve hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

Eleven threw her arms out wide and then brought her hands together in a resounding clap that echoed out around her. Everyone fell to their knees as the world went still and silent. Her eyes were still black when she opened them and walked to where Vecna lay on the ground. Tilting his head up to her, he said something that Eddie couldn’t hear. Eleven calmly pointed her finger at his forehead and Eddie watched in awe as he disintegrated before his eyes. Like a wave expanding around her, bats and Demogorgons fell to the ground before they disintegrated too.

Eddie clutched at his chest, a new fear gripping him that with Vecna gone his own tether to life would be cut. But the wave continued around him and he still breathed. Sunlight broke through the clouds, beaming down in patches as the red glow started to dissipate.

“Steve!” Dustin screamed and ran to where he was laying on the ground. He skidded to a stop, and Eddie could see the way his fingers shook as he gently turned Steve over. His chest was rising and falling, but the sound coming out of his throat was labored and wet. Eddie didn’t know much, but he knew that was a bad sound. Dustin pulled Steve’s head into his lap before his fingers moved over his chest, unsure.

“How do I look, Henderson?” Steve asked through the blood filling his mouth.

“You’re gunna be fine,” Dustin lied. Just like he had lied to Eddie. “But you have to get up, okay?”

“Kay,” Steve replied softly.

Dustin pushed his arm under his shoulders and tried to lift him. “Come on!”

Steve tried to help him but his strength gave out and he cried out in pain. Dustin laid him back down, hands fluttering uselessly over his ruined chest.

“Stop, please stop,” Steve said through gasping breaths.

Dustin looked down, tears in his eyes. Steve smiled up at him brightly.

“She got him, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, Steve. She got him.”

“Good… It’s alright, Dustin,” Steve choked out. “It’s alright. I love you...”

“I love you, too.”

Steve closed his eyes, tears slipping out between his lashes and his breathing grew even more labored… and then…

…it stopped.

“Steve?”

“Steve!” Dustin screamed.

The sky was blue and the sun was warm and Steve Harrington was dead.

Eddie woke with the sound of Dustin’s scream still echoing in his ears. He hadn’t dreamed of that night in a long time. He sighed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before he got out of bed. Wayne was already asleep for the day, so he was quiet as he moved through the trailer.

He blinked wearily at the coffee pot, surprised to see a fresh batch steaming on the counter. Wayne must have made it for him before he went to sleep. Good man. He poured himself a cup and took a sip as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light.

He hated mornings.

It was going to be a long day. It was boy’s night tonight which meant his home was going to be invaded by his little sheep.

And Steve.

Probably…

They were definitely going to try and get him to come. He was picking them all up at the Hopper-Byers’ after dinner. He figured there was a good chance of Steve agreeing. He had seemed better lately, more willing to try social encounters anyway.

Eddie thought about the look on his face at the junkyard when he had stopped laughing and started crying. Lost. Haunted. Grief so thick Eddie could feel it every time he was around him. He couldn’t imagine what he had gone through. Couldn’t imagine trying to live with the weight of it all. He was a stronger person than Eddie, that was for sure.

Steve Harrington.

Everything felt different with him back.

…but that wasn’t quite right, was it? Because he wasn’t back. The Steve that Eddie had known was still dead. Gone. Eddie had watched him die. This Steve was someone else, a stranger with a familiar face. He had fucked up with Steve in the hospital, he realized now. But he had been protecting Dustin, protecting them all – like his Steve would have wanted. A familiar face couldn’t be trusted just because it was familiar. Eddie absentmindedly fiddled with his necklace. He was glad he had apologized, but he didn’t regret his guardedness.

He wanted to ask Steve more about their history – or Steve’s and Eds’ history. But every goddamn time he was with Steve someone asked a stupid fucking question that made the man tense and freeze up or lash out with justified anger so Eddie just kept stewing in his curiosity.

Steve was –

He didn’t know what Steve was.

Eddie sighed, set his mug down and went to change into his overalls. Those engines weren’t going to fix themselves.

---

Eddie was exhausted when he got home from work. The summer days were hot and his body was covered in a sheen of sweat. He stripped out of his clothes and turned the water on in the shower, leaving it on the cold side. Hopping in, he breathed a sigh of relief as the water hit his overheated skin. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, enjoying the silence and feel of the water.

He didn’t hate the work, sometimes he actually enjoyed himself when something interesting came in. Most days sucked though. Endless oil changes and tire rotations and mindless work that didn’t challenge him. Better than working at the factory with Wayne, which had been his other option after graduating.

Sometimes, he still dreamed of leaving. Going to New York or Chicago. A big city with big ideas where someone like him didn’t have to hide as much.

Though, Hawkins wasn’t as bad as it used to be…

Now that he was out of high school his life felt like his own. He also had a much larger family than he ever could have expected to have. He and Wayne had open dinner invitations to so many houses they never had to cook again if they didn’t want to. Not that they took them up on it too often.

He finished washing, turned the water off and shook his hair out like a dog before he exited the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist and went into his bedroom to get dressed. After donning his usual black attire, he grabbed his book off the shelf and threw himself down on his bed. He had a little time to himself before he had to go pick up the kids. Opening the book to where he had left off, Eddie read:

“If wishes were fishes we’d all cast nets,” he murmured. It was his mother’s expression and he always used it when he felt the blackness of tomorrow on him. Then he thought what an odd expression that was to be taking to a planet that had never known seas or fishes…

When the room started to get dark from the setting sun, Eddie put his book away and grabbed his keys. Wayne was in the kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee when he walked out.

“Mornin,” Wayne said.

“Evenin,’ Eddie said back.

Wayne grunted at their overused joke.

“I’ll be outta here in a bit so you can do your ‘boy’s night,’ thing.”

“Breakfast with Frank?”

Wayne grunted again. He didn’t like mornings any more than Eddie did. Didn’t matter that his morning’s started at 7:00pm instead of 7:00am.

“See ya later, Uncle Wayne.”

Wayne waved him off and Eddie left. He hopped into his van, rolled down the windows and turned up the stereo up until he couldn’t hear himself think.

When he turned the corner onto the Hopper-Byers’ street, he saw all the boys waiting on the lawn. Steve in the middle of them all.

He was laughing.

Eddie pulled up to the curb and slowly came to a stop. The boys rushed the van, piling into the back and leaving the front seat for Steve. It wasn’t the first time they had done it, and Eddie was surprised at how soft the little brats were with him, how considerate.

“Hey Eddie,” Steve said as he jumped in. He looked good. His skin wasn’t so pale and he was starting to put on weight. Looking more every day like the Steve Eddie had known and not the gaunt skeletal man they had pulled out of an apocalyptic nightmare.

“Steve.” Eddie nodded to him. Steve smiled but winced a little and blinked a few times quickly. Crap. He reached for the radio dial and turned it down to a more normal level. The kids were screaming at each other in the back and Eddie side-eyed Steve to see how he was doing with the noise. He wasn’t squinting anymore so it must have been a bit better.

“How was work?” he asked.

Eddie told him about his day as they made their way to the trailer park. When he pulled up, the kids rushed out of the backseat before he had even put the van in park. They ran to the door, pushing and shoving and Eddie laughed as Lucas made it through the door first. Lucas usually won. Surprisingly, Will also got to the chair first a lot when he tried for it. Lucas was stronger but Will was scrappy.

Steve asked about the ritual and Eddie explained Wayne’s chair as they made their way inside.

---

When the first movie was over, they took a little break to get more snacks and use the bathroom before starting the next one. The kids were moving around the trailer but him and Steve were sitting on the couch.

“What was your Eddie like anyway? Was he like me?” Eddie couldn’t help but finally ask. He shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth, embarrassed. He hoped that it wouldn’t make Steve uncomfortable or angry…

Eddie’s eyes widened as a grin spread across Steve’s face instead.

“Eds was great, really friendly and popular – more popular than I was! Captain of the baseball team, too.”

What.

The.

Fuck?

There was no universe where Eddie Munson would be captain of the goddamn baseball team. But Steve just sat there looking at him with that smile on his face and Eddie couldn’t help but think it was the horrifying truth.

“Were you not the captain of the baseball team?” he asked with a confused tilt to his head.

It made sense in some ways why Steve and Eds would be friends though, if he had been so different from Eddie.

“No!” Dustin screamed in indignation on his behalf and Steve burst into laughter.

“Got you!” the asshole said and wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes.

“What the hell, Steve?” Lucas yelled.

Steve just kept laughing maniacally. It was the happiest Eddie had ever seen him. And if it had to come at Eddie’s expense? Well, that was fine with him. Steve had a beautiful laugh, full and warm.

“Good one, Steve,” Eddie said and smiled at him just as wide. It was good to see him acting more like himself… or more like Steve?

Shit.

Multiverses were confusing.

“I knew Eds a lot longer than I’ve known you but from what I’ve seen so far, you two are pretty similar.” Steve paused and speared Eddie with the intensity of his gaze. “Huge nerds with a rough exterior but damn big hearts.”

Eddie felt a blush rising to his cheeks at the heartfelt words so he pulled his hair in front of his face to hide it.

Steve got up and went to the bathroom. Dustin was staring at his back as he walked away, a smile hovering on his lips.

“Captain of the baseball team, my ass,” Eddie said to Dustin who laughed loudly.

“He seems better, doesn’t he?” Dustin asked and looked at Eddie, a hopeful tone in his voice.

Eddie wasn’t so sure about that. He thought Steve might always be one bad question or one bad day away from a complete breakdown. He knew he would be if their positions were reversed. But the joking and laughter was new and could be a sign that Steve was healing.

He nodded. “Yeah, he seems to be better.”

“I wish there was more we could do.”

“You’re doing fine,” Eddie said to him and then turned to the rest of the boys. “You’re all doing fine. Keep talking to him, inviting him to things. Don’t push if he says no. Maybe try not to yell so much in the van, yeah?”

They stared at him in confusion and he sighed. For smart kids they were pretty dumb sometimes. Eddie tapped his head and said, “he’s been hit in the head as many times as our Steve, so he probably gets the same migraines. I’ve noticed him wincing at loud noises.”

“Shit,” Lucas said, eyes wide. “I totally forgot about that.”

“Me too,” Dustin said, looking crestfallen.

Steve had died more than a year ago now. It made sense that they would start to forget things about him. The first time Steve got in his van, Eddie saw the tightening around his eyes and it immediately reminded him of their Steve – of the pain in his eyes that he tried to hide from everyone. He had eventually told them all about the migraines he got and the kids had got better at not screaming in enclosed places. But over time, they had stopped because there hadn’t been a need to be quiet anymore.

Will walked over and sat down beside Eddie and said, “he never tells us how he’s really feeling. When we ask, he always says ‘better,’ with a look on his face that makes us think he’s lying. Why won’t he talk to us?”

Eddie took a moment to think about what to say. After Vecna he had hated the question, ‘how are you?’ and he imagined Steve did too.

“It might not be a lie, Byers,” he said. “It’s just not the whole truth. His feelings are probably complicated and he doesn’t know how to talk about them. I didn’t know how to talk about mine after Vecna. Like I said, just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s going to take time.”

Will nodded. “Thanks, Eddie.”

Dustin and Lucas came over and started settling down on the floor when Steve walked back into the room. He took the spot on the other side of Will. When everyone was ready, Eddie jumped up to change the tape. His foot caught on the edge of the carpet and he fell to the side, he grabbed onto the table trying to catch himself but ended up knocking the popcorn off and he still fell hard into the edge.

“Jesus, rolled a ‘nat’ one on that dexterity check, Eddie,” Steve said.

Eddie’s eyes widened at the joke and he turned to look at Steve. The room was quiet as they all seemed to absorb what he said.

“What did you just say?” Dustin asked.

“It was a D&D joke,” Steve replied. “You do play D&D right?”

“Do we play D&D?” Dustin spluttered. “Of course we do! Do you!?”

“With Eds as a boyfriend and all of you gremlins as my friends you think I could get away with not playing? Not a chance.”

Eddie froze at the words, stunned. Steve said them so easily: With Eds as a boyfriend. They echoed in his ears. He still couldn’t quite believe he had heard them. The boys were freaking out but their voices faded into the background as Eddie’s mind spun.

Eds had been Steve’s boyfriend.

Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington had been together in another universe.

He thought back to the hospital when he had first met Steve, when he called him Eds. There was an emotion in his eyes that Eddie hadn’t been able to name at the time. A desolation that he hadn’t understood…

“I play a half-orc half human barbarian named Chuggington, but his friends call him Chug.” A pause and then, “and yeah, me and Eds were dating.”

Eddie hadn’t heard the question, but Steve’s answer cut through the haze. Only a brief hesitation and he once again said words that would terrify Eddie to speak. Me and Eds were dating. He said it so casually – the sky is blue and the grass is green and me and Eds were dating.

And of course, he named his character fucking Chugginton. Chuggington! Classic Steve –

…But it wasn’t, was it? Eddie couldn’t reconcile it. A Steve who played D&D and dated boys wasn’t the Steve he had known. But then he went and named his character Chuggington? Well, that just screamed Steve.

And the thought wormed its way in before he could stop it – that if, just maybe, he had met Steve a little earlier – that it could have been them?

Nope.

He needed to leave. Go outside and collect himself. He stood up, feeling everyone looking at him. He didn’t say anything, just slipped outside. He could finally place the emotion in Steve’s eyes that day at the hospital…

Heartbreak.

Steve had looked at him like his goddamn heart was breaking.

He took a deep breath and sat down on the steps of his trailer. Reaching into his pocket he took out his cigarettes and lighter, his hand only shaking a little. The wind picked up suddenly and it took him a few tries to get the flame to catch on his cigarette. He took a puff and blew the smoke out into the air.

The door opened and closed behind him and Steve took a seat at his side. Because that was something they did now; follow each other onto porch steps to have deep conversations.

“You didn’t tell them?” he asked.

“I didn’t know,” Eddie replied.

Steve reached into the neckline of his shirt and pulled out the twin to the necklace sitting around his own neck. “This didn’t give it away?”

It dangled from Steve’s fingers and Eddie stared at it. Steve knew the story behind it. Eddie had lied when he said it wasn’t the same. It represented the first time Eddie had a family and a home. He should have put it together. Eds had given it to Steve, which meant Steve had been his family. It just hadn’t crossed his mind that they could have been dating. Close friends, he thought, was the only possibility.

“I knew he cared about you, but not how much. I guess I couldn’t wrap my head around a universe where Steve Harrington was with Eddie Munson.”

It was the truth and spoke to an insecurity that had haunted Eddie since high school. Being with someone like Steve wasn’t even a fantasy he had allowed himself. Perfect, popular, golden boy Steve dating outcast, satanist, Eddie the Freak? Not possible.

“There was at least one,” Steve said and smiled at him, his gaze soft. “Sorry if I made things weird.”

Eddie couldn’t fight back his sigh. “Things have been weird for a long time, Steve.”

Understatement of the goddamn century. Talking to a multiverse traveling Steve Harrington who had been dating him was the tip of the iceberg. Eddie had come back from the dead possessed by an evil overlord so his perspective might be a little skewed, though. Steve looked up at the sky and Eddie looked out at the trailer park, unsure where to go from here. He took another puff of his cigarette before holding it out to Steve. He didn’t notice, still looking up so Eddie cleared his throat. Steve looked down at the cigarette for a moment, a strange look on his face, before taking it.

Damn it, he had to ask.

“So…you’re? –” he couldn’t finish the question. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“Bisexual,” Steve answered easily as he passed the cigarette back.

“Cool cool,” Eddie said and looked away to take a drag. Bisexual…. Made sense. It would be the perfect moment to tell Steve that he was queer too, that they had that in common. But the words got stuck in his throat. Wayne was the only person who knew. The thought of saying the words to Steve made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. He wasn’t ready.

The moment passed and they traded the cigarette back and forth until there was nothing left of it.

When he reached down to pick up the ash tray on the bottom step he noticed Steve’s socks – and the handle of the steak knife that was sticking out of it.

“Why is there a steak knife in your sock?”

---

Eddie had drifted off during the second movie. The heat really sapped his energy in the summer and he hadn’t slept well the night before. A scream jerked him into wakefulness and he turned to look around. Dustin had stolen Wayne’s chair at some point and Mike and Lucas were lying on the floor. The couch beside him was empty. Will and Steve were in the kitchen, talking in low tones with their heads close together.

He couldn’t make out what they were talking about but Will looked like he was a second away from crying. Eddie was about to get up and see what was going on when Steve suddenly pulled Will into his arms. He thought his lips were saying, “it’s going to be okay,” but he couldn’t be sure.

Eddie felt his heart soften at the sight. He had noticed the way Will was around Mike and could guess what had prompted the conversation. It was good that he was talking to Steve. The other boys were all engrossed in the movie and missed the tears and hug. A good thing, Eddie thought, they would probably tease and make jokes about it. He turned back to the movie to give them a little more privacy.

It took Will and Steve a minute to gather themselves but they eventually came back over and settled on the couch.

“What’d we miss?” Steve asked quietly.

Dustin hushed him harshly.

Steve just smiled and rolled his eyes before looking over at Eddie.

“The doctors sedated her after she had an episode,” Eddie whispered. “They still don’t know what’s wrong.”

“She really messed up her back doing that stunt,” Dustin said.

“Hey, you can’t shush me and then bring up your little facts.”

“My facts enhance the movie watching experience! You were interrupting for no good reason.”

“Shh!” Lucas said nudging Dustin’s shoulder.

Eddie chuckled under his breath.

He managed to stay awake for the rest of the movie. When the credits rolled, he yawned and stood up, stretching out his tired muscles.

“I’m going to bed,” he said to the room. “You can watch another movie if you want but pull out the couch and make the bed now in case you fall asleep.”

He turned to Steve. “You good to sleep with me?” he asked and then grimaced. Why did he have to word it like that!?

Steve blinked a little in surprise. “Yeah, I’m good with that.”

“Coming now or staying up for another one?”

“Now, it was hard enough staying awake through the last one.”

Eddie left the boys to manage the pull-out couch and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and relieve himself. Steve went in after him, and Eddie headed into the living room to see how the boys were making out. The four of them were piled into the bed, Wayne’s chair abandoned. The third and final movie played on the television.

“Night,” Eddie said and turned back to his room, their chorused ‘good nights’ following him.

Steve was already tucked into his bed, against the wall, when Eddie went in. He was sitting up, his bare chest showing off his healing scars. He had filled out a little more since the lake, his ribs no longer sticking out in such stark definition but he still had a long way to go. He had Eddie’s book in his hands and was reading the back cover.

“I don’t think it’s something you’d like,” Eddie said.

Steve looked up and shrugged. “It might be. I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately. Dustin leant me a bunch of books.”

Eddie hummed. “I’ll give it to you when I’m done.”

Steve nodded and handed him the book. Eddie put it on the table before flicking off the light and turning on the fan. He crawled into bed. He was hyper-aware of Steve beside him. The solid warmth of his presence. He had been tired out in the other room, but adrenaline was coursing through him now. Questions he wanted to ask kept running through his head.

“I can hear you thinking,” Steve whispered.

“No, you can’t.”

A little chuckle from the darkness.

“I guess I just don’t understand you.”

“What do you mean?”

“How much you’re like the Steve that I knew and how much you’re different from him.”

“Oh, that! Welcome to my constant dilemma with all of you.”

“Fucking multiverses, right?”

“I had another Eleven come and see me. Skinny little thing with a big scar on her face, popped out of a portal right in front of me!”

“No way!” Eddie exclaimed. “What did she want? Did she try to steal you for her universe?”

Steve laughed. “No, she didn’t try and steal me,” he said and the paused. “She just wanted to know I was alright. She was happy to find me, must have been looking just as long as the Eleven here had been.”

“Wow…” Eddie said and then trailed off. “Do you think more will come?”

A deep breath and release of air from Steve.

“Yeah…I think so,” he replied.

Eddie’s heart ached. They loved Steve so much. Eleven said she had visited thousands of different universes looking for him, had absolutely refused to give up. Which meant there were thousands of Eleven’s out there looking – another constant alongside Steve sacrificing himself.

Steve Harrington died.

And Eleven wouldn’t stop looking for him.

Eddie was grateful that he seemed to be adjusting, he didn’t know what would have happened if he kept insisting they take him back. Steve was stricken with grief, sad and angry most of the time but he was slowly starting to open up to them. Was slowly starting to tell them about himself and Eddie found that he was grateful for the chance to know him.

Part 13

@just-a-tiny-void @mx-jinxous @child-of-cthulhu @awholedamnmesstbh @phoenix0bird @queenie-ofthe-void @bookworm0690 @estrellami-1 @hbyrde36 @a-gae-af-racoon @nailbatandfreak @newtstabber @novelnovella @meela86 @lenathegay @vampireinthesun @penny00dreadful @questionablequeeries @espressopatronum454 @r0binscript @seths-rogens @fruity-nerd @sani-86 @n0-1-important @swimmingbirdrunningrock @ellietheasexylibrarian @manda-panda-monium @paintsplatteredandimperfect @viridianphtalo @goodolefashionedloverboi @13catastrophic-blues

-Sorry for the delay on this chapter! Life got a bit hectic. -I'm having a bit of a dilemma on some plot point I might want to include and I'm wondering if anyone out there would be cool with me bouncing ideas off them? You would have to be okay with me spoiling bits of the story but if you are at all interested shoot me a pm! -Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

#steddie #stranger things #steve x eddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #multiverse #angst with a happy ending #slow burn #eddie pov #The last Steve Harrington

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 9 months

Text

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

@estrellami-1

Version 2: Bat Baby

Today was the day of Steve’s c-section. Steve woke up early and slipped on his large night shirt before wandering outside. He fixed himself a large glass of iced water and sat outside in one of the lawn chairs. It was colder now, which Steve always used to hate. He always preferred the warmth of summer. Since he was bitten and gotten pregnant, it's been the opposite now, more so since he's been experiencing hot flashes. He now loved the way the cool air felt against his naked legs.

"Today's the day, baby girl," Steve whispered. "Are you ready? Because I don't think that I am. Can't you stay inside me forever? I promise to keep you safe. Of course, I don't really mean that. I know you need to come out. I don't think I'll ever be ready for you to face the world. Me and Daddy will do our best, but you know, we're not perfect. I hope you know how much we love you."

"I love you too, Daddy," a squeaky voice said.

Steve looked over to find Eddie peering out of the sliding glass door with a grin and a blanket over his head. Eddie came all the way, closing the door behind him before patting his way over to Steve. He pushed the other lawn up against Steve’s and plopped down. He had his own cup, but it was just filled with crushed ice. Eddie shook a handful and poured into his mouth, crunching it with his teeth.

"I don't think I'm ready either," Eddie said.

"Scared?"

"Terrified," Eddie said, pausing. "But at least we're scared together."

Steve took his free hand in his, and they watched the sun rise together. Eddie stroked his hand and began to sing. Steve grinned when he started to sing the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. It was one of his favorite Beatles songs. Steve chuckled when he got the idea. He opened his mouth and began to sing Master of Puppets. Eddie giggled with delight.

Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings

We all live in a yellow submarine

Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams

We all live in a yellow submarine

Blinded by me, you can't see a thing

We all live in a yellow submarine

Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream

We all live in a yellow submarine

Master, master

Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream

Master, master

"That's a scary mashup," Eddie giggled.

"It shouldn't make sense," Steve said.

"But I love it," Eddie and Steve laughed.

"You're going to be okay, Stevie."

"I know."

When they arrived at the hospital, they were surprised to find that everyone was waiting for them there.

"Like we would miss this," Joyce said.

"As if I would miss my best friend having a baby," Robin said.

Everyone gave him supportive hugs, the moms lasting longer than anyone else. Claudia wouldn't stop crying.

"Come on, Claud," Wayne said in amusement. "Let the boy go."

"I'm going to be a Grammy," Claudia cried.

"Damn, I didn't think to bring any tissues," Sue said, sniffling.

"Oh, I got plenty in my purse," Claudia said.

"I think Max might need some of those," Mike said.

"I will push you in the quarry," Max snapped and walked over to hug Steve. "You're going to be a great dad."

As she walked back over, she flipped Mike off. She sat down in the waiting room and pulled out some knitting supplies.

"Are you knitting?" Mike asked.

"What did I just say?" Max asked.

Erica sat beside her and pulled out her own supplies.

"I'm competing with Max to see who can make the better baby blanket," Erica said.

"Did you know about this?" Mike asked Lucas.

"Yeah."

Eddie and Steve laughed as they were guided off to the operating room by Dr. Owens. Hopper and El followed behind them. El had Jonathan's old camera strapped to her neck. They were joining them in the room just in case anything happened. Although, El had insisted that she hadn't felt anything bad coming from the baby. As they prepared him, Steve laid on the table he stared up at the ceiling.

"I'm going to miss being pregnant," Steve said.

"Is it because it's made your hair look really good?" Eddie asked.

"No. . .well, not just that," Steve said. "I just - what if I turn into my dad?"

"Not possible. I haven't seen you turn into your dad with any of the kids we babysit," Eddie said. "You've been really great with the kids, and you're going to be really great with ours."

"What if she is part bat? What if she starts climbing the walls?!" Steve asked.

"Then we'll get a ladder. That was going to happen anyway. She's part of me too," Eddie said.

"We both work during the day. What if she ends up sleeping during the day and awake at night?" Steve said.

"Then we'll figure that out too," Eddie said. "We'll figure it all out together."

"You have all the answers, don't you?" Steve muttered.

"Only when it comes to you, sweetheart," Eddie replied and paused. "Do I need to get a mom?"

"I'll get Joyce. She's had a c-section," Hopper said and left the room.

Joyce came in a moment later and knelt at Steve's side.

"You a little nervous?" Joyce asked.

"A little," Steve admitted.

"I was just as scared when I was in your situation. I had no clue what was going on. My biggest fear was that they would cut into Jonathan. It's been 18 years now, and medicine has gotten somewhat better. These doctors, they know what they're doing. The doctors I had knew what they're doing, and Jonathan turned out fine," Joyce said. "But if you need me, then I'll be with you and make sure they don't hurt the baby too. That's also what El is here for. We won't let them take her, either. You've got an entire army out there prepared to do the same."

Steve looked at her with watery eyes, knowing how hard she fought for Will, and he knew she would do the same for their baby.

"Thanks," Steve croaked. "You can stay."

Joyce stood on Steve’s other side and took his hand. Eddie smiled at her, his own eyes filled with tears.

"Thank you."

It was weird not being able to feel or see what they're doing, but judging by the looks on El and Hopper's face, they saw the entire thing. Eddie could clearly see what they were doing, and he watched his face turn into a look of awe, then they all heard it. The cry. It sounded weirder than he thought it would. It sounded more like a screech than a cry. Then, the nurse was bringing her over and putting her in Eddie's arms. Eddie was sobbing.

"Oh, fuck, Steve, look at her, she's beautiful," Eddie sobbed.

He held her close to Steve’s face, and Steve started crying with Eddie. She was so perfect. Her skin was slightly gray, but they apparently weren't worried about that. Eddie leaned his forehead against Steve’s. El smiled as she took their picture.

"We're parents, Steve, we're goddamn parents," Eddie said.

A little while later, Steve laid in his hospital bed while their daughter laid against his chest. Eddie sat next to him while everyone filled the room. She wasn't wrapped up in the blanket. She preferred the cold. Steve smiled as he rubbed a hand over her back.

"Oh, look at her little wings," Dustin cooed softly, tears filling his eyes. "Oh, man. I am so not ready for this."

"Is she - is she going to have a tail?" Robin asked.

"Looks like she's going to have three," Eddie grinned.

Just above the diaper was a small cluster of bumps.

"You gonna tell us the little stinker's name?" Wayne asked.

"Alice," Steve said.

"That's my mama's name," Eddie said softly.

"I know," Steve said softly. "I know how much you loved her, and I know how much you want her to be here. In a way, she is. I also love Alice in Wonderland, so there's something in it for me, too."

Eddie cried as he kissed Steve and placed a gentle hand on Alice's back.

"Everyone," Eddie sniffled. "This is Alice Wynonna Munson. It's the closet we could get to the girl version of Wayne."

"Oh, hell," Wayne said and burst into tears.

"I thought you were going to be cool about this, honey," Claudia teased.

"They named the damned baby after me," Wayne said.

Wayne was the first to hold the baby, followed by Robin and Dustin. Steve thought for sure Robin was going to fight Wayne when he was hogging the baby. There wasn't a dry eye in the hospital room as everyone cooed and passed the baby around. Erica was the last one to hold the baby before passing her off to Steve.

"She doesn't like being warm?" Erica asked. "Our baby blankets are just going to be decorative, aren't they?"

"Yeah, sorry," Steve laughed. "Oh, I think she's hungry."

Everyone began clearing the room, offering their congratulations as they left. Steve smiled at his daughter as she suckled at his breast. It felt weird and wonderful at the same time. It was definitely strange to feel his breasts to be so swollen with milk. Eddie smiled softly as he stroked Alice's head.

"We're a family," Eddie said. "Tied together forever through her. There's no going back."

"I never want to go back," Steve said.

Eddie kissed him.

A/N: one more chapter to go!

Part Nine

#stranger things #eddie munson #stranger things s4 #joseph quinn #eddie stranger things #eddie munson lives #steve harrington #steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie fanfiction

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bigboysteveharrington · 2 years

Text

Please consider Jonathan and Will changing their last name to Hopper when Joyce and Hopper get married

It’s Jonathan’s idea first because Lonnie isn’t shit

And Will wouldn’t be back alive with them if it wasn’t for the stuff Hopper did while Lonnie couldn’t even be bothered to return a phone call about Will being missing

And Hopper has done way more for their family than their sperm donor ever did

He brings it up to Will first and tells him that he hasn’t talked to Hopper or their mom about it because he wants to know if Will would be okay with it before he says or does anything else

And if Will isn’t okay with it and he wants to keep his last name and doesn’t want Jonathan to have a different one, then he’ll drop it just like that

But Jonathan doesn’t care about being tied to Lonnie

Lonnie’s not his family

The only reason he doesn’t mind being a Byers is that he cares about being tied to Will

But El and Hopper already share a last name and Joyce has been going back and forth on whether to hyphenate to keep a last name in common with her kids or go full Joyce Hopper

And she wouldn't have to wonder anymore if they changed theirs too

And then they could all be a family with one last name in common instead of different names based on how they came into the family

Because it doesn't matter how they became a family, just that they are one

Will has long since given up on his belief in Lonnie

And he feels so much safer and happier with the family he has now

And he can see how much happier and safer his mom feels with Hopper than she ever was before Lonnie left

So Jonathan doesn’t even get to finish his explanation of why he's been thinking about it and his we don’t have to do this disclaimers before Will interrupts him to say that he wants to change his last name too

They talk to Joyce next and she thinks it’s a really really good idea

And she's so happy that the boys came up with the idea on their own and that they like the idea of having Hopper as a dad

She considers whether to bring the fact that they're going to ask up to Hopper before they do

Or whether to at least hint a little to give him a heads up to try to make him a little less emotionally constipated when they do ask

But she decides against it because she doesn’t want to ruin the surprise and make it so that the boys don’t get to see his genuine first reaction

They talk it over and decide to ask Hopper and El at the same time during a big family dinner

And Hopper can tell something’s up from the way Joyce is acting very excited for some sort of surprise all night and the way the table is set weirdly fancy for a normal dinner

El doesn't notice that anything's strange, she's just having a nice time

But honestly, wondering about what the surprise is going to be has Hopper a little nervous

But then Jonathan tells them what they’ve been thinking about and asks if it would be okay with Hopper and El and how they can be a real family

And Joyce is like we already a real family, but we can make it offical

And El is so happy and she's all smiles and no tears as she repeats "A real family"

But Hopper goes silent because he's trying to get it together enough to be able to answer without his voice cracking

And he quite clearly tears up and tries and fails to hide it because he already doesn't know how he got lucky enough that Joyce agreed to marry him, but he really doesn't understand how he ended up with three pretty good kids all choosing him to be their dad

He is heavily embarrassed by the long pause before he finally manages to get out a gruff "Yeah, that'd be alright with me"

But he will loudly deny that he shed a single tear and reacted with anything less than calm composure if anyone ever dares to bring up his reaction in front of anyone else

#Hopper like Mike Wheeler if you marry any of my children you’re taking their last name because they’re not changing them again #I may write a fic of this at some point #Stranger Things #ST4 #Hopper Byers family #Jim Hopper #Joyce Byers #Jopper #Jonathan Byers #Will Byers #Eleven #El Hopper #Jane Hopper #Mine

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penny00dreadful · 11 months

Text

Return of The King - Part 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 AO3

Eddie closed the back door quietly behind him and sat down in one of the lawn chairs, tipping his head up and staring at the scattered passing clouds as he smoked.

He could hear muffled conversation and an awful lot of tears from the house behind him and it nearly made him want to cry himself. There was so much relief filling him up both from Steve being back and finally getting to do what he’d been planning to do to him since he first got to know him but also that the healing within the Fellowship could begin. He just hoped it didn’t damage anyone further.

He had no idea how he was going to do it. How the both of them were going to do it. How on earth were they going to tell all these extremely broken people that the reason they were broken wasn't a reason anymore. That he was back? And how were they going to explain that he was back different but not bad?

It could go so very wrong.

But maybe it would be enough comfort to them to know that Robin was talking again. Hell, not even just that she was talking again but that she was even… conscious again. That she was existing in the world again rather than around it.

He must have been ruminating in his own head for at least a half an hour vacillating in between smoking and worrying about the fallout of all this and watching the clouds and feeling that giggly excitement that comes with a new relationship and all the things they had left to do to each other and experience together when the door creaked open behind him and a pair of thin arms wound their way around his shoulders.

“You’ve been hoarding him.” Robin’s voice came soft and thick from the floods of tears she’d no doubt shared with Steve inside.

“Hoarding, Buckley?” He reached up to grasp her wrist. His heart was soaring. It was so good to hear her voice again. “I wouldn’t call it that. Though I suspect my Stevie exclusivity is coming to an end now that he has you back in his life.”

She hummed into his hair and tightened her arms around him, gently rocking the two of them back and forth as much as she could without toppling them over. “If I was gonna share him with anyone, I’m happy for it to be you.”

Eddie smiled to himself and tipped his head back onto her shoulder. “Awh, you’re gonna make me all misty eyed.”

“Join the club,” she let out a wet laugh, rubbing her eyes against his shirt, “it’s what the rest of us are doing.”

“Where is the man of the hour anyway?”

“He’s giving us space to say my ‘thank yous’ for taking care of me and everyone else for the last month or whatever.”

“Ah.”

“So like, thanks or whatever.” She whispered, her levity coming through clearly despite her humour.

“Not a problem, Buckaroo.”

She gave him one last squeeze and placed a kiss against the side of his head before disappearing back inside.

Eddie followed not long after, desperate for a shower and to finally get back into his own jeans. The pair he was wearing last night hadn’t been his favourite but they were a worthy sacrifice especially considering just how they were destroyed. How Steve's supernaturally strong hands had effortlessly gripped onto the tough denim and ripped them clean in two right below him, all the little noises he'd managed to work out of him with his tongue and his hips as he'd slowly, torturously slowly, sunk in-

He turned the shower water icy cold, he needed to keep his head clear for the next few hours ahead and he definitely wouldn’t be able to do that if the only think that was knocking around his brain was the continued idea of fucking around with Steve.

When he came back downstairs, he and Robin sat Steve down and tried to summarise everything that had happened in the last month. The complete and utter fuckery that the California crew went through, Joyce and Murray’s little vacation to the Soviet Union where, oh yeah, Hopper was alive but imprisoned, the cracks in the earth that had split the second Steve died, inadvertently saving Max from mutilation, the wide open gates that creatures would crawl through every so often, the fact that Hawkins was half abandoned, his parents…

It was a lot to take in and Steve took it all surprisingly well, almost like he’d been waiting for some catastrophic events to hit Hawkins for a few years now.

The next challenge that was presented to him was just how they were going to tell everyone. If they just sprung Steve on them out of nowhere it would be disastrous. They could all collapse into grief, they could run scared, they could attack him, believing him to be some fucked up trick of Vecna’s, there was so many things that could go wrong.

At the very least Wayne was going to be out of the house for the rest of the day so he couldn’t accidentally get caught in the crossfire.

Eddie sat at his kitchen table bouncing his leg so quickly his whole body was jiggling. Robin and Steve had helped him write out what to tell the others over the walkie to get them to arrive.

It wasn’t easy.

He needed them to know that it wasn’t a world ending Code Red but at the same time wasn’t it? Steve was back and that was a huge thing on its own but definitely didn’t warrant sending them all into a blind panic and putting them on edge, especially when the thing that was waiting for them was enough to implode everyone in the worst ways possible if handled incorrectly.

So he had to tell them it was urgent without skyrocketing everyone’s collective stress levels.

“Eds, it’ll be fine.” Steve tried to soothe him as the three of them sat waiting. He had a gentle grip on the back of Eddie’s neck, rubbing his thumb in small circles. It wasn’t working. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Eddie and Robin shared a look for a long moment while Steve glanced between them.

“Okay, I don’t love this,” he said, pointing to each of them in turn, “whatever this is.”

“D’you think you’d be able to dodge a bullet if it came down to that, Stevie?” Eddie asked from behind his hair with his head hung low.

“Nance wouldn’t shoot me.”

“Yes she would.” They answered at the same time.

“She’s gonna think you’re some Vecna trick like I did.”

Robin nodded, agreeing. “Yeah, and you can’t fuck the doubt out of her like you did with Eddie.”

Eddie lifted his head just a fraction to glare at her but she didn’t back down, just raised her eyebrow.

“That’s not what happened.”

“No?”

“No, I wouldn’t have let him fuck me if I still thought he was the spawn of Satan.”

Robin scoffed with a cheeky smirk on her face. “That’s a lie. But maybe it’ll be Hopper who’ll try to shoot you, Steve.” She blinked innocently over to him. “You could try to fuck some sense into him?”

“Robin.” Steve hissed, his whole face turning red.

“You had a thing for Hopper?” Eddie couldn’t help the shit eating grin that started to pull at his mouth, quickly joined by Robin as Steve tried to glare at the two of them with as much venom as possible.

“You never heard those words come out of my mouth.”

“No, but Robbie insinuated which is as good as a confession.”

“I hate the both of you.”

Eddie and Robin shot to their feet, cooing and crowding around Steve, squeezing him tight in between the two of them with a downight dramatic level of sarcastic comfort and affection. Steve just scowled harder but wormed his arms around the two of them squeezing back, unable to hide the upward curl at the corner of his mouth.

They only broke away from their mocking ‘you love us’ ‘you looooove uuusss’ when they both felt Steve tense under their arms.

“They’re here.”

Eddie shot to his feet, his adrenaline and anxiety coursing through his whole body. He needed to move, he needed to get it all out somehow. Fuck this was it. Everything was about to change. Again.

God, it could all go so wrong.

But it could be so good too.

It could fix everything.

“Are you hidden?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah. Only you and Robin can see me.”

“Okay good, you know them, they'll just burst in-”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the front door was thrown open and a gaggle of teenagers spilled into his hallway. Eddie felt a short kiss be pressed to the back of his head, just a silent reminder I’m here before he took a deep breath in and tried to steady himself as best he could.

There wasn’t the usual noise and chaos that used to be so normal with the kids, there were no childish arguments or rapid fire discussions. They filed into his house quietly and without bluster, each finding a spot to sit around the dining table or lean against a kitchen cabinet looking at him expectantly, barely sending a glance in Robin’s direction who had marginally retreated back into herself. Whether it was the pressure of the situation or so many people around he didn’t know. He couldn’t really blame her or the group for their reactions.

Steve was staring around at all of them with wide eyes, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. But instead of any kind of delight or smugness or smart remark about finally getting them to quieten down, he looked heartbroken. Like he hadn’t realised just how changed everyone was.

“Well?” Nancy snapped. Short and eager to get to the point as she always was these days and Eddie could never hold it against her.

He realised he’d been watching Steve’s reaction too closely. It probably looked like he was staring off into space while they all filled in around him.

So he took a deep breath in and began.

“Okay, uh,” he started to thread his fingers through his hair, picking out individual curls and twisting them, anything to keep his hands occupied, “it’s not bad news. It’s actually good news, or it might not be good news depending on how you view it and how we had to get here, but it’s news! I’m gonna be honest, I’m having a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to tell you all because it’s gonna be really hard to swallow at first-“

“Eddie.” Dustin interrupted, his voice lacking its youthful energy and his face as grim as it had been for the last month. “Does Robin really need to be here for this?”

Robin startled at the mention of her name and seemed confused for a second. Eddie supposed it was a fair question, Robin hadn’t exactly been present in the last month and the rest had mostly gotten used to talking like she wasn’t in the room. Most of the time she wasn’t, really.

Eddie looked over at her along with Dustin who’s eyes widened at the sight of any emotion on her face apart from blank despair.

She looked up to meet Eddie’s eyes and gave a small nod. The whole room seemed to have caught the tiny movement, automatically straightening up and becoming much more engaged. Because if it was something that had the power to pull Robin out of the pit of her mind, it must be something extreme.

“Get on with it.”

“I’m trying, Nance, but this is actually very nerve wracking-”

Nancy glared at him, hard and cold. None of the warmth he’d seen in her before was present now and it hadn’t been for a while. She crossed her arms before speaking in a very stern tone of voice.

“Eddie, I don’t have time to waste with this bull-” she stopped herself short, swallowing harshly before continuing, “with this nonsense. So just-”

“It’s Steve.” He blurted out before he could stop himself, sudden and loud and impossibly catastrophic.

Silence crashed in around all of them in the wake of his statement, filled with so much tension he could feel it tingling against his skin. They were all staring at him, some with anger, some with devastation and some with just blank expressions that hurt more than anything.

The sound of a chair scraping against his tiled floor screeched loudly through the kitchen, almost too loud to bear. Dustin stood and without a backwards glance, began to walk away.

Eddie opened his mouth to call after him, his heart breaking in two but before he could say anything a voice made itself known from behind him.

“Dustin!” Steve called out to him, cracking through the air in the kitchen like a hammer against stone.

The air was sucked out of the room like they’d all entered a vacuum chamber. Dustin stopped dead and the silence that permeated around all of them felt both fragile and immovable at the same time.

The delicate click of a gun being cocked echoed around them and there was a heartbeat where nothing happened before the room erupted into chaos.

Eddie whipped around but it wasn’t Nancy that had drawn her weapon, it was Hopper. He couldn't even make the appropriate salacious jokes at Steve's expense about that because such a panic had gripped him at the room's collective response, he found himself frozen solid.

This wasn't going well.

Shit.

Shit!

Robin threw herself in between Steve and Hopper with her hands out, screaming at him to wait!

Everyone else looked a mix in between terrified and shocked. Like Vecna himself had just manifested in front of them, Max and Lucas were shouting, their heads ping ponging between Steve and Hopper, Mike and Will were shouting questions at Eddie. Joyce had pulled Will back, trying to push him behind her, Jonathan and Argyle were trying to stand defensively in front of Joyce but Jonathan also had a hand fisted in the back of Nancy’s shirt, who was pulling a pistol out of her bag, El was staring up at Steve, silent and considering, Erica oh god Erica was crying, she was just a child, Hopper was barking at the kids and Robin to stand down and Dustin…

Dustin hadn’t moved. He still had his back turned to everyone, both fists clenched so tight the colour had left his knuckles.

“Shut up!” He screamed, high pitched and cracking, somehow making himself heard over the cacophony of noise that swiftly came to a halt at the sound of his voice.

Steve had an arm around Robin’s waist, having pulled her out of the line of fire while she scrambled against his immeasurable strength to try and get back in front of the barrel of the gun but he too froze at the sound.

Dustin took a deep breath in. “Eddie. What makes you so sure?”

Eddie looked in between Steve and Dustin. What could he say? He couldn’t exactly tell everyone what had transpired in the last twelve hours, he definitely wasn’t going to mention the sex. What had originally convinced him? Would it be enough?

“He…” Eddie swallowed. Somehow he’d never felt more vulnerable than right now, every single eye in the room was on him and he had the power to make or break everything. “He laughed at me? I insulted Vecna to his face and he… he thought it was funny.”

It sounded stupid, it sounded so stupid when he said it out loud. He couldn’t even bear to look up at them all to see how that explanation landed.

After a few seconds of heavy silence, El spoke up.

“What was your insult?”

Eddie glanced at her, she had her head tilted slightly to the side and her face was calm but curious. “I, uh, I called him a lump of unseasoned bolognese.”

“A dickless lump.” Steve interjected, a small smile on his face despite the tension in the room. Like a spell had been cast through the group at the sight of that smile, the strain on them seemed to lessen. Steve probably didn’t even realise he was doing it, there was just something about him now, something about his smile brought calm to them all. Maybe he’d always been that way. Eddie couldn’t really be sure.

Dustin whirled around and stomped his way over to Steve, the rest of the group parting like the Red Sea for him.

He stared up at Steve, an angry tilt to his brow and his jaw set, like he was ready to punch him in the face if he moved wrong.

“How many puffs?”

Eddie supposed the question must have been some kind of test, he certainly didn’t know the answer to whatever the fuck had just been asked, and no one else around him seemed to know either. No one else except for Steve.

“Four.”

Dustin’s lip quivered for just a second before he gathered himself, slamming his eyes shut again and turned his face away.

“El.” He called over his shoulder.

“Dust-” Steve started, reaching out, but was cut off.

“No!” Dustin yanked his shoulder away, his voice sharp and cutting. “I can’t- St-” swallowing harshly he continued a little quieter. “I need to be sure before I can- I need to be sure.”

Steve retracted his hand slowly, letting it fall to his side where it was quickly snatched up by Robin.

“Okay.”

El took a step forward but was halted by Hopper’s hand on her shoulder.

“We don’t know if this is safe.”

“I’ve been inside Vecna’s head.” El took her fathers hand and gently lifted it away. “If Steve is an agent of Vecna he will not be as strong. This is not the most dangerous thing I have ever done.”

“And that makes this okay, does it?”

“What else would you rather do?”

Hopper scowled at her, the downward tilt of his mouth making it clear he didn’t have an answer.

“I still don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it.”

El stepped out of Hopper’s space and towards Steve, holding her hands out and waiting.

Steve nodded down at her before leaning forwards, effectively slotting his head carefully in between her hands and they both closed their eyes.

For two and half long, long minutes the room collectively held its breath, waiting in anticipation for her to draw down her verdict.

Eddie was sure as shit that he hadn’t had sex with Vecna in Steve’s body but god damn if the thought still didn’t make his skin crawl.

El’s brow furrowed and her grip tightened around Steve’s head as though she was trying to burrow her fingers into his skull. Steve grimaced as she dug in hard but held himself steady, his hand still clutched in Robin’s.

Dustin had moved to stand beside Eddie, staring wide eyed at the scene before him. Eddie had never seen him look so young, so small, so lost. He slung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him back towards his chest, holding him firm, trying to impart comfort in any way he could. Dustin sagged into him, barely holding on by a thread.

A small hand slipped into his. Erica refused to look at him but the shake of her hand and her silent tongue told him all he needed to know. For all her bravado and all her snark she was still the baby of the group and by a long shot too. While she protected herself and made herself seen with her attitude, it often made them forget that she was barely out of elementary school.

In some ways she was the biggest victim of all of this, no one else had been thrust into this apocalypse as young as Erica Sinclair.

And based on the little he had heard about how she had gotten introduced to all this, Steve was there. Steve, Robin and Dustin were the ones around trying to keep her safe against some kind of underground Russian spy operation or something. No wonder she was affected by all this.

Eddie pulled her back towards him too, his other arm around her shoulders, all three of them huddled in close together, watching and waiting.

“There’s something else there.” El muttered as her fingers relaxed, gently combing through the parts of Steve’s hair she’d messed up. “This is Steve. You are Steve. You are here. But there is something else here too.”

Steve’s face paled just a fraction. “Vecna’s not in my head.”

“No, it’s not Vecna, it’s something else. A cloud.”

“A good cloud?”

“No.”

The tension in the room ramped straight back up.

“A b- a bad cloud then?”

“No. It’s just a cloud, but pushed and tugged. Made into long legs-”

“The Mind Flayer?!” Will shrieked out in a burst of panic.

“El, is he Flayed?” Joyce asked, somehow calm but straight to the point.

“No. No it’s not like-” not like Billy. “The Flayed were Vecna. Vecna puppeteering The Mind Flayer. This little bit in his head… it’s free.”

“So he’s…” Dustin huffed, his voice cracking again. “El, please, in plain English? Is he safe? Is he Steve? Is he- is he back?”

El nodded. “He is safe, he is Steve, he is back.”

She barely had the words out of her mouth before Dustin had ripped himself away from Eddie to throw himself at Steve. Steve unwound himself from around Robin quicker than should have been possible to be able to catch Dustin in time but catch him he did.

“You- you died. You died! You told me you loved me then you just went and died on me like an asshole. How could you- please, please don’t ever do that again. Swear to me, I can’t… I can’t-” Dustin was screaming, wailing into Steve’s neck, the sound echoing loudly around the room while everyone simultaneously tried not to intrude on their moment while not being able to bear the thought of leaving Steve.

“I know, I’m so sorry, Dusty. I’m so sorry. Never again, I swear on your mother.” Steve tried for humour but even he couldn’t push past all the emotion in his voice. “Never again.” He had his own face buried into Dustin’s hair, his arms wound tight around him, unable to keep his voice from wobbling.

Once Dustin had stopped screaming and cursing and was able to take a few deep breaths, he loosened his arms slightly, allowing Steve to glance up towards the other kids.

It was all the invitation Max needed.

She threw herself against Steve and Dustin, clutching on to them for dear life. She had barely made contact before the rest of the kids were rushing forward, grabbing onto any piece of Steve or each other they could reach.

Dustin unwound an arm from around Steve’s neck, opening his body up, looking back towards Eddie and Erica.

She shot forward, being pulled right into the centre of the group hug, right up against Dustin, Steve and Robin.

Robin still had herself pressed in close, her arms around Erica and Dustin while the kids all muttered and cried and punched and breathed. They told Steve they couldn’t lose him again, they practically fell all over themselves to tell him how much they appreciated him, how important he was, the guilt at thinking him dead and having never told him how much he meant had been eating away at all of them for a solid month. They even turned to Robin and told her how happy it made them to have her back too. They’d missed their Aunt Buckley.

That started a fresh round of tears from everyone.

Movement to his side caught Eddie’s eye. Nancy was standing a little bit away, pale faced and swallowing repeatedly, trying to keep her emotions in check. She looked like she was desperate to throw herself into the fray but didn’t know if she’d be welcome, didn’t know if she was allowed.

Her eyes were shining and her mouth was tight as Eddie approached her. He took her hand in his and pulled her forward. She turned her wide gaze on him as he led her closer, scared and apprehensive but Steve raised his head and held his own hand out to her. Will and Mike almost immediately shifted to the side, pulling her into the group with them.

Steve sent a short thankful glance Eddie’s way before turning his watery attention back to that wild eclectic group of people that loved him so incredibly.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 AO3

@romanticdestruction, @darkwitchoferie, @justforthedead89, @didntwant2come, @estrellami-1, @warlordess, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @weeennussy, @studentlife-with-sassyaf-friends

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byrhop · 11 months

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Why were California and Russia plots so important

I’ve seen a lot of people complaining last summer about how the Russia and California plots were unnecessary and just a waste of time. I’m here to dive in into the brain of the duffers and tell you exactly why they did this and why it was the exact opposite.

I have 3 main points to make:

1. Developing Vecna’s background

The duffers are smart and probably already had the idea about what s4 and 5 are gonna be about while writing s3 and maybe even earlier. So put yourself in their shoes, they want to introduce this big bad that will end up being the mastermind behind everything and they need time to introduce him properly.

Now imagine this: Will, El, Joyce and Hopper are in Hawkins and the planned story for s5 would have to immediately get into motion. What’s the story? Due to the play, we can guess that Joyce and Hopper knew Henry. The dots would be connected much sooner, leaving no time for us to have a question mark over our heads trying to figure out how the Creels play into all of this.

Another thing is our dear William Byers. We know he’ll be very important in s5 and there is no way Joyce knowing Henry wasn’t connected to his s1 disappearance. Will is connected to Henry, if he were in Hawkins, this plot would start immediately. We’d have to find out more about the connection sooner, Will would again be put through supernatural hell and we’d most likely be introduced to him struggling with his sexuality through vecna which i would hate. Like this we at least got a glimpse into Will already figuring it out on his own and even accepting it.

If El hadn't lost her powers and stayed in Hawkins, she would immediately locate vecna and he would probably remind her of everything that happened… and there goes all of your time to introduce Vecna slowly with a mysterious effect to him, we’d have the same characters in supernatural mess as always and no time for sadie sink to shine. Which brings me to my second point

2. Focus on other characters

What does this mean? For example, Will is an important character who was sidelined for a while, but we know he will return to the center stage next season. In season 4, we saw that he had grown more confident, likely due to a more open-minded environment. The smaller plot that he had will become more significant in season 5.

Mike usually leads the party, but in season 4 he didn’t which led him to voice some of his insecurities. However, when was the last time something significant happened to him? I believe it will in season 5.

But, what about other characters? If we assume that Will, El, Mike, Joyce, Hopper (and probably Nancy and Jonathan) will be the main focus in the next season, when will there be time for the rest? That's why season 4 was important - it gave the Hawkins crew more focus and developed their final stories, so they only need to be finished and given proper closure. If our Cali and Russia crew were in Hawkins, there wouldn't be enough time for other characters because they would be the ones in the middle of a supernatural mess.

3. The relationships

Russia and Cali had a common theme going on when it comes to relationships. Both jopper and byler (no matter if platonic or romantic) experienced having to spend time without the other person to realize how important the relationship is to them.

Mileven struggled with issues that they didn’t even know they had before. It doesn’t matter whether mileven or byler will be endgame, we know that Mike deeply cares about both of them, and the distance definitely made him realize a lot of new things about his relationships with those two.

Jopper was on the verge of getting together last season, but his “death” made them realize there is definitely no time to waste and made their feelings for each other perfectly clear.

Conclusion

Relocating characters was important to make space for forming a background for a probably packed plot that is coming next season. If they hadn't done that, season 4 would most likely be the last season, and it would feel incredibly rushed (they even originally planned to have only 4 seasons). This gave them an opportunity to focus more on the characters and their relationships, and paved a path they're about to follow to their final closure.

Although there's still a lot of stuff left open, particularly with relationships, I feel like most of their problems can be solved with one big and important conversation. Season 5 was definitely tricky to write because there's so much going on, but if you think about it, we already know the big bad and quite a lot behind his motives, giving us 7-10 hours to give the show a proper ending without spending at least 2 hours introducing a new villain or characters. That's precisely why the way season 4 was written was extremely important.

#stranger things s5 #stranger things s4 #stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #eleven #dustin henderson #byler #mileven #jopper #lucas sinclair #cali crew #analysis

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duck-in-a-thrift-store · 13 days

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Prologue? Pilot? IDK Man I Just Work Here

(part 1.2)

{hey so uhhhh

i have finals coming up and its the last week of classes and im lowkey failing two of mine right now, so unfortunately im going to have to go on hiatus for a bit- even though i literally just started, ugh- while i try to catch up and deal with... all that

that said, ive decided to split the prologue up into three parts instead of two and just go ahead and give you what ive got so far of the rest of it

this and the third (and hopefully final) segment is where we really start setting up/contextualizing the "full house" premise of the fic

link to part 1.1 here}

~~~

So, over the next several weeks, they come up with a plan.

Most of them aren’t exactly happy about the plan, but… oh well.

The parents are determined to move their children- who have proven themselves to be prime targets for the supernatural- out of town, to relocate them somewhere they’ll be well-removed from the apocalypse unfolding in Hawkins. Caught up to speed about the history of Hawkins Lab and Owens’s involvement in everything, they all but order him to help with the arrangements.

And he delivers. Calls are made, blueprints are drawn, and before they know it, a plot of land has been secured two thousand miles away in California for a house to be built on. And it’s going to have to be a pretty big house, considering it’ll be home to six teenagers and a pre-teen.

The kids are dead set on not being separated again; it’s one of their conditions for agreeing to leave. Steve can’t blame them, honestly. After everything they’ve been through together, he doesn’t want to be apart from them either. In fact, he’s been feeling a bit paralyzed by the thought, has had a little trouble breathing since the move was decided.

He’s sort of out of it the next time everyone gathers at the hospital to hash out the details, to be honest, but in his defense, his head isn’t quite what it used to be before all the hits he’s taken in recent years.

But then the ongoing discussion turns to who will look after the kids, and well, that certainly gets his attention.

There’s a military blockade taking shape around the area, keeping the threat contained- but also the citizens. It’s only through Owens’s connections and influence that they’ll be able to sneak the kids out, and just that in itself is going to be risky. As much as they’d like to, they can’t take everyone.

The parents have agreed to join the resistance that’s starting to form, a force of townsfolk who have finally realized what’s really happening and are banding together to find a solution, or at least hold off the Upside Down from taking over for as long as they can. Hopper and Joyce have taken it upon themselves to teach everyone as much as they can about what they’re up against, and a few of the others are helping out with pooling resources and organizing community childcare.

For various reasons, their families won’t be coming along.

“Who’s going to take care of you all?” Sue asks, her question directed more towards the room at large than the kids themselves. “None of you are older than fifteen; I don’t want you out there on your own with no adult supervision.”

Karen starts to say something, probably about how she doesn’t intend to let Nancy stay behind either, that there will definitely be at least one person over fifteen present, but Steve cuts her off in his eagerness. He practically jumps out of his seat, actually, but he’s held in place by his desperate grip on the sheets of the hospital bed he’s still stuck in until he’s done recovering from the demobat bites.

“I’ll do it!”

Once again, all eyes are on him, and they’re broadcasting confusion, surprise- in the case of the parents, that is. The kids mostly look relieved. None of them will say it- the little shits- but he’s pretty sure they were just as worried about leaving him behind as he was about sending them away.

Claudia tilts her head at him in question. “You? What, by yourself?”

Steve figures the faintly bitter disbelief in her voice has less to do with him and more to do with Dustin’s deadbeat dad, so he chooses not to take it to heart. But before he can make a remark about how some men are actually interested in fatherhood- although he’s not entirely sure what his brain even means by that- Karen Wheeler speaks up.

“Not by himself, no. What I was about to say a moment ago was that Nancy is going too. I don’t want my daughter staying here after being involved with all this pretty much since the beginning. But, Steve, even then, you’re hardly adults yourselves- Nancy only just graduated high school last week. I don’t think you two should be left to basically parent seven kids all alone; it’s too much responsibility.”

(While she does have a point, and he’s certainly not opposed to having Nancy out of harm’s way, it’s also important to note that the daughter in question is currently busy giving shooting lessons to a sizable portion of the resistance. Nancy is no stranger to responsibility, but she isn’t exactly the motherly type, either. Regardless, Steve wants both roles for himself- at least on a subconscious level. He’s not quite aware of it yet, his rightful place as both mom and dad to the party, but… he’ll get there. He thinks of himself more as a glorified babysitter, really, but it is a position he takes very seriously nowadays.)

Mistaking Steve's spacey expression for something else, Dustin mutters smugly beside him, “I bet you would looove that.”

Steve rolls his eyes and shoots back, “Can it, kid. We’ve been over this. Nance and I are not getting back together.”

Nancy and Jonathan broke up after her graduation, for reasons which Steve has decided are none of his business. In some ways, this made the idea of rekindling their relationship- something his friends insisted he should try to do- more of an actual possibility. And yet, somehow, that in itself helped him realize that he doesn’t really want to get back together. And he knows she feels the same, even if there are some weird lingering feelings on both sides of the issue. They simply aren’t compatible, and that’s okay. It took him a while to get here, but now he’s happy just being her friend.

Thankfully, Robin joins in, interrupting that awkward train of thought and providing the solution to a problem Steve hasn't even considered yet.

“They wouldn’t be alone, Mrs. Wheeler. I can help out, too.”

“You would do that? Move across the country and play house with me and these brats?”

“Of course I would, dingus. Where you go, I go.”

The fondness in their exchange prompts some raised eyebrows from the others, but that’s irrelevant. Steve is just massively thankful that Robin is offering to come along. Having to choose between the kids and his platonic soulmate would have torn him apart just as badly as the bats did.

“And I’d say the same about Will and El,” Jonathan says as he joins the group. “So I hope there’s room for a couple more.” He glances questioningly at Argyle, who came in with him.

Argyle just shrugs. “I’m sticking with you, man.” Apparently, his parents turned him out to fend for himself when he hit eighteen, so he doesn’t have much to go back to, and he’s been content staying with the Byers until the blockade is lifted- or for the long haul, it seems.

Karen nods in Jonathan’s direction. “Good, I’m sure Joyce will feel better knowing you’ll be there.”

So that makes five of us. Considering I’ve wrangled most of these guys on my own plenty of times by now, that should be totally manageable. I guess it will be nice to have some guaranteed backup for once.

It looks like the gang is staying together after all, plus at least one new-ish addition.

But, speaking of "new-ish additions" to the group, there is still a six-foot deep hole in the entire plan, which is the question of what to do with a dead man when all his remaining friends are ditching town.

“What about... Eddie?”

~~~

{well folks theres the second installment of the prologue. as for the rest of it... youll get it when you get it. hopefully ill be able to start updating more regularly once i go back home for the summer. things are just kinda crazy right now hahahahaha <-(the deranged laughter of a person whose ass is not passing all their courses this time and is very seriously considering becoming a college dropout)

oh and yeah so eddies dead i guess. not what i had planned but sometimes the plot just does what it wants. you know how full house basically starts off with dannys wife dying in a car accident (offscreen and prior to the events of the actual show anyway)? and steve is like, very loosely the au's parallel of danny? well you might not have known that actually but i just told you. so. yeah. you get where this is going

also, to my unofficial beta readers and lovely mutuals @moreover-clover and @redley-of-many-noodles: i have seen your comments/messages and i appreciate your input, but ive decided im going to try not to take this project too seriously and just have fun with it rather than worry about how polished it is, so i think this is going to be a no beta project from here on out. thank you for the thoughtful commentary/critiques on part 1.1, and i do hope you continue to enjoy it <3

having said that, if anyone happens to notice glaringly obvious/simple typos that i could easily fix, or if any parts are just genuinely incomprehensible, feel free to point it out/ask for clarification if you want to}

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blushweddinggowns · 1 year

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Eddie rubbed at his temples, a headache starting to set in. Whether that was from blood loss or the insanely loud alarm that was still blaring in this hell hole, he wasn’t sure.

Steve was fussing over him, despite how many times Eddie insisted he was fine. He was bleeding, yes, but they all were in some way or another. Yeah, the bite wounds hurt like a bitch, but he wasn’t dying, he knew what that felt like, and in comparison this was nothing. Steve’s frustrated tears were more painful than the claw marks anyway.

“Stevie, I’ll be okay, really-”

“Just shut up,” he hissed, or at least tried too. It came out more like a sad little sniffle, “What the fuck where you thinking?”

Eddie didn’t really have an answer for that. He hadn’t been thinking, critical thought had basically left his brain the second they stepped foot into this place. He had just moved, pushing Steve right out of the way of the bigger and better stream of demon bats, spilling out of another brand new hell portal.

Only a few of them managed to sink their teeth into him before El got it closed, and Steve and Hopper managed to pull them off before any real damage could get through. Maybe that was the one good thing about this place, flying monsters were a lot easier to handle in closed corridors, especially when you had a psychic wunderkind with you.

“It’s called being chivalrous babe,” Eddie tried, wiping a few of Steve’s tears away. Steve leaned into his hand, always willing to accept Eddie’s touch, even when his hands were covered in filth.

Steve glared as he nuzzled into his hand, probably resisting the urge to choke him out, as he examined his bloody chest,“And it’s going to get you killed.”

He wanted to tell Steve the truth, that it didn’t matter if he died as long as Steve and the kids made it out alive. That he didn’t care if they’d only been together a few months, he refused to live in a world without Steve in it. He wanted to tell him he loved him, that dying for him would never be off the table, but the already devastated look on Steve’s face was enough to make Eddie hold his tongue.

And…it felt like if he admitted everything out loud, it would be accepting the idea that they weren’t making it out of here. Eddie shrugged,“Still worth it.”

Steve was just about done with his haphazard first-aid, and Eddie took the opportunity to lean his pounding head against Steve’s, frankly nasty, shoulder, shuddering at the gross squelch sound it made. Steve’s clothes were completely saturated in Upside Down bullshit, but it's not like his hair could get anymore disgusting, and any kind of touch was comforting, for both of them.

They were safe, for now. As safe as you could be when facing the end of the world and cooped up in a glorified storage closet in an underground government facility. He hated this place, and he’d hate it even if it wasn’t invaded by monsters. How El managed to grow up in these sterile, lifeless halls and come out the other side how she was, he had no idea.

Eddie watched the others as Steve wrapped the last make-shift bandage around his chest. Will was fiddling with the radio, trying to get an update on Dustin’s side, while Hopper was cleaning the blood from Eleven's face, and Dr. What's his fuck was babbling to both of them, a plan on the edge of forming. Joyce was wrapping up Hopper’s leg, the blood still seeping through her clumsy efforts.

How Eddie and Steve became the lucky ones to be in the literal maw of the monster, he didn’t know. One minute they were accepting a nice dinner invite to the Byers’ place, more than happy to help Joyce and Hopper start the whole being gay is okay conversation with Will and Eleven. Eddie never thought that he would be considered a role model for the burgeoning bi-curious youth of Hawkins, but he’d take it. And if he had to guess, Steve was supposed to be the star of that show but he was more than happy to be his leading man.

And then the next they were watching literal demons start escaping from the cracks in the earth. Maybe it shouldn’t have been so shocking, Venca had never disappeared after all, not really. But Eleven had gone after him, in that weird psychic way that Eddie still didn’t fully understand, and she had said she found him, didn’t kill him, but did enough damage to free Max’s soul.

She had woken up, screaming her brains out, but she had woken up. And that had been enough.

Vecna had slinked away into the shadows, no monsters to be found, but the presence was still there, trickling into their world at a snail’s pace. El didn’t know what to do about it, she didn’t even know if she could kill him, she had barely managed to save Max, and that was without him having a physical body anymore.

So they waited, what else could they do? And they got a year, a great fucking year in Eddie’s opinion, the best year of his life. And just like that they were facing the end of the world again. At least things were clearer this time around.

Two things. Kill Vecna and hide Max. Neither had been as easy as they’d hoped.

“Will, do you copy? Are you there?” Dustin’s crackling voice asked, the radio finally getting through.

Everyone’s head immediately swiveled, anxious for an update.

“Yes!” Will gasped into the receiver, “We’re here, are you all okay?”

Dustin paused, “We’re all alive? Did you find him?”

“We found him, but…it’s bad.”

Eddie almost laughed at that, bad was the understatement of the century. The piece of shit had gone completely insane, cooped up in the creepiest playroom that Eddie had ever seen. Which was saying something considering how unhinged Vecna was to begin with. Something had happened to him since the last time, and all of those detailed plans and fancy words had been replaced with complete chaos and disarray. They weren’t even sure if he was in control of his powers anymore, not when gateways would open and shut randomly, some even shutting before his monsters could get out. Eddie never thought he would see a demogorgon decapitated by a closing portal, but here he was.

Now, it didn’t even seem like he cared if he lived or died. He didn’t even seem like a he anymore, just a malevolent force of rage and hate, that was losing control on every level. The hive mind was fracturing, the monsters easily agitated and distracted, which was one point in their favor. They were all barely hanging on as it was, Eddie didn’t even want to think about what it would be like if all these things could think beyond killing.

“But you guys can still kill him right?” Dustin asked, panic edging in his voice.

Will bit his lip, hesitating, “He’s protected by all those things, I don’t-”

El shook her head, hastily sitting next to Will to take the receiver, “I can still do it.”

Joyce and Hopper glanced at each other, looking just as lost as the rest of them felt. Joyce stepped forward, trying to be gentle with her words, “Sweetheart, you’re too weak-”

“So is he,” El interrupted, “I can feel it,”

“You can’t take him and all of those things at once!” Hopper insisted, kneeling down to her level, shaking her the slightest bit in his desperation, “He’ll kill you!”

“If he wins, we will all die.”

“But-”

“But could you just take him?” Steve asked, cutting through the noise. Everyone turned to stare at him, confused.

El nodded, “I can kill him.”

“But just him?”

“I…I do not know,” she admitted, looking away.

“So they just need to be separated, right?” Steve pressed, “If you can get him alone, then we have a chance.”

Eddie stared at him, catching on to what he was getting at, his stupid, smart, self-sacrifing Steve.

“Divide and conquer,” Eddie breathed, catching on,“You want to distract them.”

Steve shrugged, “I’m the fastest runner out of all of us. A few gun shots, a look at me, they’d all come running.”

It was definitely possible. Ever since those demons had come back they were remarkably easy to distract, always focused on eating the closest living thing to them. It could work. It could be their best shot.

But Eddie didn’t give a shit if it meant Steve dying, “They’d rip you apart!”

“Not necessarily,” Owens piped up, “This place held psychic children for years, there are places to hide.”

He fished into his pocket, pulling out the keycard he’d been using since they got here, “There’s a room, where they used to do the most dangerous experiments. The glass is bulletproof, government grade. I’m not sure it will be enough, but it’s your best shot.”

Steve nodded, a determined look on his face. Eddie knew that look, it meant that there was no talking him out of it.

Well two could play at that game.

Owens was still going, a solid plan starting to form around Steve’s idea,“When they start chasing you-”

“Us” Eddie interrupted, staggering to his feet, “When they start chasing us.”

Steve stood with him, brow furrowed, “Eddie-”

“Don’t even fucking try,” Eddie hissed out, snatching the keycard from Owen’s hands, “I’m coming with you.”

He was hurt, sure, but it was mostly surface level, and his legs were probably the least mauled thing about him. Steve looked ready to argue, but shut his mouth at the look on Eddie’s face.

He turned to the group instead, “We’ll be the decoys. They come after us, and you go after him.”

No one seemed particularly happy with the plan, but it’s not like they had a choice. Hopper gave them the pistol strapped to his hip, grumbling, “You’re both too young to be doing this shit.”

Eddie shrugged, not really having an answer for that. In fact, he completely agreed. This was the last place on the planet that any of them should be in.

“Go down the hall, one shot. Then back, two lefts. Then swipe the card on the right. It will lock automatically,” Owens instructed, going as far as to write it on Steve’s hand, “If we win, they should die with him and we’ll come get you.”

They left the room after that, not wasting any time as they quietly made their way down the hall, hearts thumping in their chests. They could hear them as they got closer, the collective sound of the hoard breathing, standing guard.

They stopped at the corner, the last hiding spot before they could be seen.

“You ready?” Eddie whispered, glancing at Steve.

Steve shook his head, biting his lip before grabbing the front of Eddie’s shirt, dragging him into a bruising kiss. It tasted like monster blood and Steve, and was probably the most disgusting kiss he’d ever had.

And he never wanted it to stop.

Steve let him go, too soon, with a sad smile, “Now I am.”

They stepped out together, Eddie covering his ears as the shot rang out. It was a blur after that. Neither of them looked back as they sprinted down the hall, but they could hear screeching behind them, and the ugly noise of talons hitting linoleum.

Eddie had never run that fast in his entire life, but they both made it, slamming the door shut behind them. It was only a few seconds before the monsters rounded the corner, immediately jumping against the door and clear windows, their claws screeching against the glass.

“I told you the morning runs were going to be worth it,” Steve gasped out between breaths, hands on his knees.

Eddie nodded, eyes skimming over the still standing glass. It was the first time Eddie could really look at the things and they were heinous. Wet, slimy skin, rows of teeth that spanned on forever, all salivating as they pressed against the glass, the shrieking never stopping.

The noise was only gathering more of them to the same place, and Eddie didn’t doubt that they had gotten all of them, not when he was looking out into a sea of demons.

The minutes passed, ten, twenty, thirty, with the well of monsters attacking the glass never stopping. How long did a world-altering final showdown take?

Then he heard it, the first crack. The glass was fucking breaking, government-grade his ass. The second wasn’t too far behind, but this time paired with visible lines, crawling across the surface.

He could feel Steve’s hand slip into his, squeezing as their eyes stayed glued on the hoard of monsters. The hoard of monsters that was probably seconds away from getting to them.

Steve tightened his grip on Eddie’s hand, grimacing, “I think we’re going to die.”

Eddie shook his head, ignoring the tears that were already starting to gather in the corners of his eyes,“Baby, we’re not going to die-”

Another cracking sound, more and more fractures making themselves known. Steve was pulling at his hand, hard, hard enough to make him face him.

He was fucked up, they both were, bleeding from different claw marks and bites, covered in the black blood of those monsters, and the red of their own.

He looked resigned, resigned but determined, “I love you. I’m so fucking in love with you, it’s terrifying.”

They both flinched at another loud crack, more and more spider web lines skittering across the glass. Fuck, Steve was right, they were gonna die. Three months. He had only had him for three fucking months.

Eddie put his shaking hands on Steve’s shoulders, staring into those big brown eyes, “I love you too, of course I love you. You were the best thing that ever fucking happened to me."

The tears were flowing now, for both of them, no stopping it.

Steve rested his forehead against Eddie’s, voice shaking, "I wish I could have spent my life with you,”

It wasn’t fair, none of this shit was fair. They didn’t deserve this, Steve didn’t deserve this. All that fighting, for years, just to die in this pit?

“The next one,” Eddie managed to gasp out in between his tears, “If there’s anything after this, I’m going to find you, understand me?”

Steve smiled, somehow still managing to look devastatingly beautiful underneath all that filth, and that just made Eddie want to cry harder, “You swear?”

“I swear.”

And then they were kissing, what else could they do? Eddie closed his eyes as their lips met, if he was going to die, he wanted Steve to be the last thing he saw.

It didn’t take long for the glass to finally shatter, flying in all directions. Eddie could feel the air move, could feel them all scrambling towards them, eager to get the first bite.

He kept his eyes screwed shut, and kissed Steve harder as they both went down. He didn’t want to see it, never wanted to even imagine watching the man he loved be torn apart.

He felt long teeth sink into his ribs, the pain sharp and stinging. He waited for the next bite, heart in his throat as he tried to mentally prepare to be eaten alive, again.

But then…nothing. He could hear the sound of bodies falling over each other, the scrape of talons on the tile, but that was all. Seconds passed, enough time for Eddie to snap his eyes open, in disbelief that he was still in one piece. He clutched at Steve, relief flooding him when he was staring back. He was bleeding from a scratch on the head from their fall, and a monster had sunk their teeth into his calf, deep but not deep enough where he couldn’t walk.

Dozens of bodies surrounded them, and besides the two limp creatures they had to pry away from their skin, none had gotten the chance to reach them. They both clung together as they looked around. The things weren’t just dead, they were disintegrating, disappearing into floating dust.

"W-we're not dead?" Steve asked out loud, like he couldn’t really believe it, “Holy shit, we aren’t dead!”

Eddie could barely believe it either, but on the off chance this was some near death hallucination, he wasn’t going to waste it. He grabbed Steve’s face, kissing every dirty inch of it, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Steve gasped out, somewhere between a laugh and a sob,“Are you okay?”

Eddie nodded, ignoring the oozing bite on his side. In comparison to what could have happened, that was nothing. They helped each other up, both a bit wobbly from blood loss and still shocked at the fact they survived.

They heard them before they saw them, footsteps getting louder and louder from the hallway. He could hear Will talking into the walkie, probably trying to calm Dustin down, “We’re going now!”

The group rounded the corner, all of them looking worse for wear, but they were all there, and that’s what mattered.

“They’re alive! I told you they would be fine!” Will’s face didn’t match the confidence in his voice, the kid looked like he was ten seconds away from crying in relief, and the rest weren’t far behind. Eddie wasn’t quite sure, but he could almost swear he heard Dustin and Robin sobbing through the receiver with the rest of them, a few insults mixed in with their happy tears.

They told them everything on the way to the hospital. El won, all of them lived, and the hell known as the Upside Down was gone for good. There were some more details in there, sure, but Eddie wasn’t listening fully, too busy being grateful to be alive and trying to wrap up Steve’s leg in the back of the van.

He got the broad strokes, what else did he need?

The hospital was a mess, but by some miracle there were enough beds for everyone. Half of them had to stay overnight, the other half longer, but they were all still alive, somehow.

It was hours later, Eddie was sitting up in his hospital bed, staring out the window. He couldn’t really sleep without Steve on a good day, but on the day they almost died together? No shot. Even if he was fully aware that everything, and everyone was fine, Eddie was stuck, staring into nothingness.

He missed Steve, which was stupid considering he’d seen him an hour ago, but he still did. He wondered what he was doing now, only a few rooms away, and he wondered even more if he could get away with sneaking to his room. The staff was beyond busy, maybe no one would notice?

Eddie startled when he heard a knock on his door, too lost in thought with his silly plans. It was late, and the nurses didn’t knock. He perked up a little, already hopeful for it could be, "Come in?"

He grinned as he watched Steve slip inside, still in his own hospital gown. He limped over to the bed, sitting on the edge with an apologetic smile,"Did I wake you?"

“Not even a little,” Eddie said, deciding that he was too far away. He grabbed for his arm, mindful of his bandages, as he pulled him into his lap, his favorite place to be, “You’ve ruined me Harrington, I can’t sleep without you anymore.”

Steve gave a quiet laugh, relaxing in Eddie’s arms, “Me either.”

His presence was like a magic switch had been flipped, and suddenly Eddie could feel the exhaustion from the last forty-eight hours seep in. He kept Steve close to his chest, avoiding his side as he laid them down, one on top of the other.

Eddie kept a hand in Steve’s hair, playing with the strands as they whispered to each other, “Hate being away from you.”

Steve smiled, pressing his mouth to Eddie’s collarbone in a half-kiss, too tired to give him the real thing, muttering against him,“Today fucking sucked.”

“It did, didn't it? But there’s nothing but up from here baby.”

Steve hummed against him, his eyes fluttering closed as he whispered, “I love you.”

Eddie would never get tired of hearing that. He’d never get tired of saying it. Here he was, a drug-dealing, high-school dropout who had almost been eaten alive twice, who had Steve Harrington love him.

It made him feel like the luckiest man on the planet.

He was still petting Steve’s hair, tired but a touch too happy to fall asleep yet,“Y’know, I had a big romantic plan for telling you that for the first time.”

Steve opened up one eye, peering up at Eddie with sleepy interest, “Really?”

“Mmhm, I was going to make you dinner-”

Steve tried to hold in, but a laugh still managed to slip out,“You were going to make me dinner?

Eddie rolled his eyes, the guy knew him too well, “Okay, I was going to pay Nancy to make you dinner and take credit for it.”

Steve grinned, both eyes open now as he listened,“Go on.”

“I was gonna pack it up, drive us out to Lover’s Lake at night, do some stargazing. There’s supposed to be a meteor shower in a few weeks, was gonna do it then. Adds to the romance.”

Eddie omitted the part where he was going to wish for Steve to say it back, ready to take up superstitions he didn’t even believe in for a chance for this man to love him. He went on, his voice dropping the slightest bit, “Would have brought a bunch of blankets and pillows, make the van all comfy before I fucked you nice and slow.”

Steve licked his lips, cheeks pink as he stared up at him, lovestruck, "And then what?”

“Was gonna wait right before you came. You always make the prettiest face when you’re on the verge, I’d be able to tell. Was gonna whisper it in your ear, watch as it sunk in while you fell over the edge,” Eddue kissed the top of his head, teasing, “But then you had to ruin it with your near death confession.”

Steve gave a small laugh at that, but he was breathing a little faster, clutching onto Eddie a little tighter as he spoke, “You know…if I were you, I wouldn’t let that plan go quite yet.”

Eddie smirked, “No?”

“Nope. In fact, consider this a verbal contract. You have to do it now."

“If you insist.”

“I really, really do.”

They grinned at each other like idiots, the exhaustion of the day finally doing them both in. Now that he had Steve tucked next to him, Eddie was more than ready to let sleep take them away. He was so close to passing out he almost didn’t hear it, Steve whispering into his skin, “I still like our version more.”

Eddie smiled, answering before finally letting sleep take him, “Me too.”

#steddie #steddie ficlet #steddie fic #a preview for chapter 6 which will be up by this Sunday!#eddie munson #steve harrington #come and fuck are mentioned but this bit is really not explcicit #you'll pry my insanely long posts out of my cold dead hands #stranger things #eddie munson lives #and almost dies again #that's it that's the fic

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canadiansummer · 1 year

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TITLE: Say What You Mean (18+) PAIRING: Dmitri Antonov x Fem!Reader / Enzo x Fem!Reader REQUEST: This is for the anon in my inbox who wanted a jealous/needy Enzo...and, well. This took off on me. WARNINGS: GRAPHIC SMUT. Minors do not interact. There’s also some drinking, jealousy/possession play (?) if that’s a thing, exes and mentions of break-ups. It’s a mixed bag. NOTE: So. As of finishing this, it is thirteen pages in my word doc. So, grab a snack and buckle up. This is the longest and, by far, raunchiest piece I’ve written so far. I’m also working off the notion that like...everything’s okay. lol I had a fun time with it, I hope you enjoy reading it. lol

“There are eyes on you.”

He muttered lowly near your ear as he pulled the chair next to yours a little closer, sitting down casually enough to not hint at the situation that was greeting you that night. You continued to tap your fingers lightly against the wooden table in time with one of the songs playing lightly in the background of the bar. It wasn’t exactly the most impressive place, but it was cozy and, thankfully, not too crowded.

Considering your relocation from Hawkins, it was at least something you knew nearby that you could escape to if your home was getting too oppressive. However, with the damage that had been done to Hawkins, it seemed you weren’t the only ones who moved out to the same area.

You knew it would be an interesting night when Joyce had lightly grasped your arm when you approached the table, pointing out a familiar face. An ex from a couple of years back had apparently chosen the same bar to spend his night in, and the place was small enough that the two of you meeting eyes was almost inevitable. Things had ended nicely enough–the sharp sting of the break-up took a bit to fade, but for the most part you two had managed to keep civil when you crossed paths in town.

At the surprised head tilt and friendly grin, you had felt obligated to at least go see how he was doing.

The conversation had been a relatively quick one. Mostly about his current living situation, the things that had happened between the last time you both had spoken, and some general small talk. However, when it got to the topic of his recently severed marriage, the brief and friendly touches started to register as something other than that. Catching the look in his eyes and the bleary quality to them from the alcohol he already consumed, you knew you had to get out of there.

You had removed yourself from that moment with an easy laugh and a remark that you had to get back to the group you arrived with, despite your ex’s small protests. And turn down the offers (mostly from Joyce) to have him join them.

The last thing you needed was your ex and the man you were unofficially seeing having to sit at the same table with you, alcohol or not. As much as you knew you could use the casualness of your relationship with Dmitri as a reason to not take the current situation all that seriously, it was hard to ignore the tension in you at the thought. And the embarrassment of knowing he probably saw the whole thing.

So, in the current moment, you weren’t too surprised to see Dmitri saddle himself up beside you once Joyce and Hopper had separated to do something together. And that you had also felt the stare he mentioned.

“I know,” you replied around a small sigh, making a pointed effort to not glance in your ex’s direction. It had been a couple hours, he had been drinking the whole evening, so you didn’t want to spur on some sort of confrontation or incident.

Though, the sight unfolding out in front of you was more interesting, you casting Dmitri a somewhat amused side glance when he didn’t reply to that. You noticed the way he rubbed at the edge of his mustache, his eyes trained on the bottles behind the bar across the room, and the way his leg lightly brushed against your own as he jiggled it. You had picked up on some tension from him since you had returned to the table, but he was hard to read. Still laughed and grinned with Hopper and was engaged in the conversations throughout the night, but he didn’t look at or talk with you for too long until now.

“He’s drunk and miserable,” you continued, leaning back in your chair somewhat to look at Dmitri better. “Just got out of a marriage. So, he sees someone he was in a relationship with when he was younger, and thinks…”

“It is clear what he thinks,” Dmitri commented, “He keeps checking to see if you are at the same table.”

“And you keep watching him like a hawk,” you replied, failing to keep the amused look from crossing your face.

Dmitri didn’t reply to that, dropping his gaze from your own as he turned to glance toward where Hopper and Joyce had disappeared to. You grinned, placing a hand on his knee in a reassuring gesture. Really, you appreciated the gesture, as you figured that was helping keep him away from you. Plus, the night was starting to drag on and you weren’t interested in getting involved in whatever whim your ex would end up regretting tomorrow.

“Tell you what,” you continued, causing him to glance back toward you, “I’ll pay for what we had tonight, and you can go tell Hop and Joyce that you’ll drive me home?”

A certain touch of a grin crossed your face at the last request, one that had become familiar over time.

The first time had been just that. You hadn’t expected for things to evolve like they did with Dmitri, who had initially been a stranger to you on top of even stranger events. Yet, over time, you found yourself spending more time around him than you intended. A natural companionship had bloomed out of that, and friendly offers to take you home had moved into something more than that. Yet, you both seemed to bite your tongues on saying exactly what it was between you two. Some days you wondered if it was just a short-term fling and you should be expecting an end date at some point. Other times, it felt like you opened up to each other and you wondered if things were different than what you were thinking.

The current night seemed to blur that line. So, while the implication of spending the night was there, as it usually was, you also wondered if he’d tell you what got at him tonight.

“Sounds good,” he agreed, which allowed you to stand with a nod.

“Great. I’ll see you in the car.”

You headed toward the bar to pay for what you had drank that night, making an effort to not look at the man who had been the crux of your issues tonight. While you could feel his eyes on you as you wrapped up your night out, he didn’t reach out or try to talk to you when you passed by him again to head toward the door.

The sun had set, allowing the night’s air to cool things off a little. Really, it felt nice and allowed you to breathe for a moment. You knew the drive back home would be an interesting one, so you figured you would gather yourself for a few moments before you started to dig around for your keys. You stepped off the curb toward your car, hearing the front door of the bar opening behind you but you didn’t quite pay it much mind in the moment.

That is, until you heard someone say your name in a frustratingly familiar voice.

You pulled your keys from your pocket, holding them tightly in your fist as you turned around with a sigh.

“Look–” you began, quickly cut off when your ex stumbled forward another couple steps, waving his arms in front of him in a drunkenly dismissive gesture.

“No, no. Lemme just say…” he began, thankfully not stepping forward into your space any further. For now. “I never–never stopped thinking about you. I think we…”

“I think you stopped long enough to get married and have a couple kids,” you commented in some light humor, trying to keep the situation under control, “You’re drunk. How about you just go back inside and ask for a cab? Hell, I could quickly duck inside and call one for you.”

“I’m not drunk,” he insisted, “I miss you. Couldn’t keep my eyes off you all night.”

“If that’s true, then you know I didn’t come here alone.”

“Fuck him,” he retorted, making you frown somewhat.

The longer you stood there, the more acutely aware that Dmitri could come walking out at any moment and the last thing you needed was a full confrontation. You were also quickly losing your patience with the situation, yet you knew pushing him in this state would just make things worse. With another small sigh, you stepped forward, hand raised somewhat like you were trying to guide him to turn around.

“You’re drunk,” you said, “Let’s go inside and find a way to get you home.”

“No–you’re just…” he protested, taking advantage of your extended arm to grab your wrist and pull you harshly toward him. You stumbled somewhat in surprise, but immediately pulled back to try to get out of his grasp.

“Let me go or there will be a problem,” you stated evenly, despite the rising anger in you.

He didn’t, still staring you down with a hardening look on his face. He started to speak again, more slurred and insistent words with no exact point. Yet, your gaze drifted toward the door again when you saw it open again. Dmitri stepped outside, looking around somewhat neutrally before his gaze met yours. You knew the scene he was walking into–you trying to pry your hand out of a drunken man’s hold, and you instantly saw the shift in his body language.

Shit.

You yanked your hand back again with as much force as you could muster, feeling a quick ache in your wrist as you did so but you didn’t have the time to pay it much mind at the moment. Still, it was enough for you to get away from his grasp just in time for Dmitri to harshly pull him back by the collar of his jacket, effectively putting himself between you two. It was a small relief, though you were quickly concerned that this would get out of hand.

“We are having a conversation,” your ex insisted, a little shaken up but you could catch the edge in his voice.

“No, we’re not,” you stated, “Go home.”

“I know you’re just trying to spite me, but–”

“Enough,” Dmitri snapped, “She told you to leave. Say another word and I will end this conversation.”

“Who are you supposed to be?” your ex asked, trying to straighten up somewhat but swayed somewhat on the spot.

“Her boyfriend,” he stated, making your gaze flicker toward the back of his head for a moment, “We are leaving.”

Nobody moved, however, the tension in your body and the whirlwind of thoughts that got kicked up in your mind almost made you dizzy. You were waiting for someone to swing, but instead your ex let out a soft scoff, taking a couple steps back before meeting your gaze with a bitter chuckle.

“A commie,” he said, shaking his head, “You really sunk down quite low this time, huh?”

“I’m not a drunk picking fights outside a bar,” you retorted, “Great talk, though.”

With that, you reached out to place a hand on Dmitri’s shoulder, a subtle guiding gesture before you started to make your way toward the driver’s side of the car. You really just wanted to get out of there, despite the fact that you could feel your blood boiling. You slid into the driver’s seat, starting up the car as Dmitri climbed into the passenger seat. However, you didn’t pull out, rubbing at your somewhat throbbing wrist as you watched your ex’s back disappear back into the bar.

“He hurt you?” Dmitri asked after a few moments, making you pry your eyes away from the door to glance down at your wrist, rolling it somewhat and flexing your fingers.

“No, just had to pull pretty hard to get him to release my wrist,” you replied, shaking your head, “He’s always been a little handsy while drunk. Though, it’s reminding me why we split in the first place.”

“I can go back in,” Dmitri offered, almost lightheartedly but there was a seriousness to his tone that had you believing he might follow up on that if you asked.

“He’s not worth the effort,” you replied, finally pulling the car out to make your way back to your home. You could still feel some of that tension sitting in your gut, running over the night’s events in your head.

***

The house was dark by the time you arrived back home, shucking your shoes off as you got ready to settle in for the night.

However, you barely had time to turn around and form a sentence to state that thought when hands were on you. Dmitri pulled you into a hard kiss, gripping the back of your head with one hand and pulling you flush against him with a hand pressing into your lower back. You gripped at the front of his jacket, a hand pressed between your bodies as you slid your hand into his hair. Really, you were a little surprised he lasted the car ride if this was the intensity of the current moment.

You felt the edge of the small table near the door pressing into your back, which made you drop the hand from his hair down to blindly clear some space before pushing yourself up to sit on it. Dmitri pressed in closer, allowing you to let him settle between your legs. He swiped his tongue against your bottom lip, you parting your lips to let him push his tongue into your mouth with a light groan. You could faintly taste the alcohol he had been drinking that night on his tongue when you met his with your own.

Dmitri dropped his hand down from the back of your head to your shoulder, where he pulled at the lapels of your coat to expose your neck. He parted from your mouth to nuzzle at your neck, taking the time to leave open-mouthed kisses against your neck, mustache tickling lightly at the skin with each press of his lips. He hit a certain spot that made you inhale lightly, tensing up somewhat. At your reaction, he sucked lightly at the skin there, making you squirm with a light moan that dissolved into a breathless chuckle.

“You are pretty attractive when you’re jealous,” you commented.

“Not jealous,” he muttered, somewhat muffled, between kisses.

“You were scowling all evening.”

You brought a hand up to push at the opening of his jacket to help him take it off, the current moment making you feel like you were starting to cook in the clothing you still had on. Dmitri pulled away from your neck to help you shed his jacket, his hands making quick work of removing your own before tossing it on the floor. You felt him place a hand on one of your still clothed thighs, leaning in to capture your mouth in a much lighter and quick kiss than his previous. Though, he didn’t pull away much, parting just enough so he could speak against your mouth.

“Have not seen you all week and he shows up. Ruins the night…”

“He certainly wasn’t invited,” you said, tilting your head to kiss him lightly for a moment, “and the night is still young.”

You felt Dmitri squeeze your thigh lightly, pulling back somewhat to bring his hands around to the front of your pants. He tugged at them lightly, his usual silent ask for permission as he stared into your eyes. You nodded lightly, lifting your hips somewhat so he could pull them off you. Once they joined your jacket on the floor, he knelt somewhat as he hooked his fingers into the sides of your underwear. Seeing where this was going, you placed a hand on top of his to pause his movements.

“On the couch,” you said, “I need to give my wrist a break.”

Dmitri nodded, you expecting him to shift back to let you down, but instead he wrapped his arms around you so he could hoist you up against him. You clumsily wrapped your arms around his neck and hooked your legs around his torso, feeling his grin against your shoulder as you let out an awkward laugh as he turned to carry you the short distance from the front door to the living area.

He placed you down onto the couch, kneeling somewhat so he could press his body against yours again as he kissed you hard with a low noise in his chest. He trailed his hands along your body outside your shirt, cupping your breasts with his hands through the fabric as you moaned lightly against his mouth, arching lightly into the touch as he squeezed them. Your bear legs brushed against the fabric of his pants, feeling him push his hips down against yours for a moment before he shifted.

He lifted himself up somewhat against the armrest, face still hovering over yours as he dropped a hand down between your legs. You inhaled sharply at the feeling of his fingers rubbing against your folds through the fabric, watching the arousal cross his expression as he let out a low groan. Though, that look shifted into something a little different as he rubbed his fingers against you again, his mouth lifting into a light grin. (He looked almost…proud?)

“You are wet already?”

The comment made you pause, taking stock for a moment the coolness of the air against your core and realized that you were. You had learned pretty early on that he enjoyed a good bit of teasing and banter as foreplay, but the way he charged out of the gate so quickly the current night and knowing you inspired that? It turned you on quicker than you had registered at the time. Instantly, you could feel heat settling into your face, but you found yourself nodding lightly.

“All for you,” you replied, pushing your hips up against his fingers.

That pulled a groan from him, Dmitri pressing his fingers down against you a little harder. You let out a whimper, craving that touch all the more as he continued to tease you outside your underwear. That familiar almost playful look crossed his face when you felt him rub a little lazily against your clit through your underwear, making you squeeze your legs together around his hand somewhat as you craved a more direct touch. Finally, you let out a small, almost frustrated noise.

“Please–” you sighed, trying not to squirm out of need as you met his gaze again, “Touch me, Dmitri, please.”

“I am,” he remarked, earning a quick glare that he brushed off with a small chuckle before shifting back.

He knelt more on the floor in front of the couch, pulling your underwear down your legs before tossing them aside. He trailed his hands up your legs, nearly touching your core before dipping down to the inside of your thighs.

“Spread your legs,” he instructed, you following that command as you situated yourself further down on the couch so he could have better access.

Dmitri regarded you opened up for him with a hunger that put a twinge of arousal right down between your legs, his head bowing to press his head between your legs. He started with slow licks up your folds, purposeful, and it had you sinking further down against the couch cushions. You let out a small breath that came out close to a hum, your eyes fluttering closed. He continued to lick at you, mixing up the pressure of his tongue before shifting to lick at your clit.

They were quick and short at first, which had you struggling to keep your hips still before he used his hands to keep them still. He continued to lick at and drag his tongue around your clit, sucking lightly from time to time to pull a few strangled noises from you. You found your good hand reaching down to grip at his hair, squeezing your legs against his shoulders somewhat. Dmitri groaned into you, moving a hand from your hip to trail down the outside of your leg. You placed one of your legs on his shoulder at his coaxing, Dmitri parting his mouth from you for a moment as he shifted.

He pushed a finger into you, reattaching his mouth to your clit as you let out a moan and gently rolled your hips against him. Dmitri pumped his finger into you as he ran his tongue across your clit, your fingers tightening in his hair. Once you were used to his single digit, he added a second finger, eventually increasing depth and speed as he hit that certain spot in you. It had your mouth falling open, moans and half utterances escaping you as he kept feeding into that tightening feeling in you.

Eventually, you opened your eyes again, head angled up toward the ceiling as Dmitri continued to fuck you with his mouth and fingers. You could feel that light tingling feeling traveling down your body, dropping your head down to look at Dmitri between your legs.

You were immediately met with a heady gaze, eyes burning into your own, pupils blown wide. His head moved subtly in time with his tongue, your hand tangled in his short hair to keep him where he was as he let out a moan as you continued to hold his gaze. With the motions and the sight in front of you, you found that hot feeling wash over you, which settled heavily in your gut. You let out a gasp and moan, shakily rolling your hips forward as you dropped your head back.

“Oh, I–Dmitri, you–” you gasped out, finally finding your voice but struggling to string a sentence together around the feeling of your walls fluttering around his fingers. “I’m cumming! I…”

It only took a few more moments before you clenched around him, letting out a cry as you came undone. You released Dmitri’s head as he lapped at you for a few more moments before pulling back from you. He wiped your juices from his face and sucked them from his fingers before rising to lean over you on the couch.

You allowed him to pull you into a languid kiss, tasting a mix of you and himself on his tongue. It was intoxicating, especially with the post-orgasm haze that was still setting in you.

“I love your mouth,” you found yourself muttering when he pulled back from the kiss, almost as an aside to yourself. Yet, the small grin that crossed his face told you he heard it loud and clear.

“You almost made me end this too early when you looked down at me,” he said, shifting to stand.

Even with his pants still on–still completely dressed, you realized–his arousal was hard to miss. You gathered yourself to a stand, legs still a little shaky. You leaned into him, reaching a hand down to palm at the hard bulge in his pants. Dmitri let out a low hum, pushing his hips into your hand somewhat before he pulled back with a shake of his head.

“Bedroom.”

He gestured toward the hallway with his head, moving to head toward it as he gathered his shirt at the bottom to pull it over his head. You watched him unabashedly, his back and torso exposed to you as he opened the door to your bedroom. You almost laughed at the confidence of that–leading you around your own house like he owned the place. Yet, you knew it wasn’t like he didn’t know where everything was, considering how often he started staying with you.

As much as you both hadn’t wanted to show your relationship off or label it so far, you realized that there was no way Joyce or Hopper hadn’t caught on at the very least.

“You are still on that…?” he asked as you walked into your bedroom.

“Birth control? Yeah,” you said with a nod, making quick work of your shirt and bra.

Once you were bare in front of him, you saw lust darken his gaze again as he took you in with his eyes. Yet, he didn’t approach you to pull you into him or anything. Instead, he turned to grab one of the pillows from the head of the bed. He placed it down near the center of the bed as you approached it to climb up onto it.

“Lay on your stomach,” he directed, “Put the pillow under you, it should help keep you comfortable.”

“Sure,” you agreed with a nod, “Though, can you do something for me?”

“Of course,” he replied, watching you intently.

“Don’t hold back.”

Dmitri’s brow pinched somewhat. “Hold back?”

“Yeah. Come on,” you said with a light chuckle, “You seemed pretty close to just fucking me on the table near the front door when we got here…”

“You want that?” he asked after a brief pause, a look of interest crossing his face as you nodded your head.

“Yes,” you replied, trying not to let the slight sheepishness slip into your tone at admitting that. It seemed like he had gotten pretty close to figuring it out on the couch–not that you didn’t enjoy what he ended up doing in the end. Clearly.

“Sure, if that is what you want.”

With that, you situated yourself down on your stomach on the bed, tucking the pillow under you. Behind you, you heard the sound of Dmitri removing the last of his clothing, a part of you tempted to turn and look over at him. Yet, you felt the bed dip somewhat as he climbed onto it. His hands went to your hips, pulling them up so your ass was in the air somewhat. Dmitri let out a small hum, pressing a kiss along your spine on your lower back, running his fingers along your folds again.

That pulled a small gasp from you, feeling somewhat sensitive when he circled your clit with his finger. Yet, the arousal that washed over you at the current situation told you that you could go again, pushing yourself back against his hand somewhat.

“Keep this position,” he stated, shifting forward so he could press a lingering kiss to the back of your neck before pulling back to speak. “And tell me if you want to stop.”

You nodded, moving the pillow somewhat so it would be more comfortable as Dmitri shifted back upright. He pressed his fingers along your folds again, down and then up again to circle your clit with a finger. You let out a sigh, rocking back into the motion as he pushed his fingers into you once again. Dmitri let out a low groan, pumping into you a little harder.

“Still so wet for me,” he commented, “All for me, as you said. Yes?”

“Yes,” you replied, pushing lightly back against his hand.

“Good,” he said, suddenly pulling his fingers out of you.

The absence ached a little, though the feeling of Dmitri trailing a hand down your spine and rubbing the head of his cock against you distracted you somewhat. He pulled your hips back as he entered, the stretch making you gasp a little. However, he didn’t meet much resistance, which had him pushing in with a bit of a harder thrust. The feeling of him bottoming out inside you pulled a moan from you, your torso and face still resting against the comforter of the bed. He gripped your hips with both hands, pulling you back against him with each thrust forward.

He rocked you into him at an easy pace until you found yourself pushing back against his thrusts, which prompted him to pick up pace. You started to let out moans and whimpers as he started to hit certain parts of you that shot pleasure through you. Dmitri thrust harder into you, starting to let out a few grunts and cusses of his own. You tried to keep up with his pace, but he kept pounding into you harder. You relished in the feeling of his cock slamming into you, pulling all sorts of little sounds out of you as he rocked you back and forth against the bedspread.

“When I saw you tonight…” Dmitri started, not breaking pace but you could hear him struggling to get the words out between his heavy breathing, “at the bar with him…Joyce saying she thinks you will get back together…saw way he looked at you…I wanted to interrupt very badly. You are right. I was a little jealous.”

“I know what he wanted,” you gasped out as he stilled inside you, hovering over you as he placed a hand in your preferal. You groaned, feeling yourself pulse around his hard cock.

“What?”

“This,” you panted, gesturing around you as you leaned back on your knees as Dmitri’s prompting hand. You rested your back against his chest as he wrapped an arm across your chest and dropped his hand down to rub at your clit as he started to bounce you on his cock.

You let out a loud groan as he pushed in at the new angle, his fingers at your clit pushed you further and further toward your orgasm. Dmitri groaned at your back, his hot breath at the back of your neck as he pushed his cock up into you. You used your legs to push back down on him, creating a pace that was building up a delicious tension in you.

“He wanted to be you,” you continued, finding your train of thought again, “Doing this, right now.”

Dmitri moaned, thrusting up into you hard as you met him again as you whined, feeling your climax quickly building with each push of his cock into you and swipe of his finger.

“You want that?” he asked low in your ear, punctuating that with another thrust as you cried out.

“No. No, just you,” you panted out, feeling yourself fluttering around his cock, another moan escaping you.

“Just me.”

“Yes, Dmitri. Just–Oh, fuck. I only want you.”

“Come for me, then,” he said around a curse in Russian, “I want to feel you. I want to come when you squeeze around me.”

You knew that was right around the corner, judging from the pressure building inside you. A part of you almost begging for that release. Though, it didn’t sound like Dmitri was that far behind, considering the noises he was letting out into your ear, his thrusts fast and sloppy. You focused on matching his pace, crying out with each thrust as you could feel yourself getting so close to what you wanted. You could feel your legs burning, being folded under you like they were but–

Your orgasm hit you suddenly, and hard. You clenched around Dmitri’s cock, tensing up as you cried out, losing control of your volume for a few moments. Dmitri wrapped an arm around your middle, holding you tight to him as he thrust up into with a few more quick thrusts before stilling. He moaned into your ear as he came, following up with some grunts and pants as he shot his cum into you. You could feel it leaking down your shaking legs, which only became more apparent as he released you to pull out.

You collapsed onto the bed, trying to catch your breath and stretch out the ache in your legs. Dmitri lay down beside you with another groan, shutting his eyes for a few moments as you took him in. His flushed appearance, hair a mess with his mouth parted to catch his breath. You had sex with him before, laid in bed with him after, and he was gorgeous then. In the moment, however, looking at him made your heart squeeze, feeling almost giddy.

Dmitri opened his eyes, turning his head to meet your gaze.

“You are good?” he asked, making you smile as you nodded.

“I’m fantastic,” you replied, “though, I’m going to feel…everything in a couple hours.”

“That is what you wanted,” Dmitri said in some light humor, reaching out to pull you into his arms. “I will carry you around the house if we are not both stuck in bed.”

You shifted to settle against him, wrapping your arms around his middle as he rested his chin on the top of your head. He ran a slow hand up and down your spine, the sensation threatening to pull you to sleep before you could voice the thing on your mind. Everything was still a bit of a blur, but you found yourself dwelling on a moment.

“I know that most of what you said was exaggerated…” you started, causing Dmitri to shift so you could look at each other.

“Yes…”

“Yet, the whole…’wanting to interrupt’ thing sounded like it came from something outside of all the rest…” you continued, “I-I could be wrong, I’m…spent and not exactly…”

“...You are right. I was jealous,” he replied after a moment, “I am tired of hiding. Hiding us.”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel like we were hiding,” you said, rubbing a hand against his bare shoulder, “I know we didn’t want to cause a whole thing, considering it didn’t really start in a traditional way.”

“I know,” he said, “I was fine with it, but recently things have changed. I do not want to pretend around Joyce and Hopper anymore.”

“...They probably guessed it,” you muttered around a soft huff, “I wouldn’t mind that. To be with you. I mean…I felt such dread when Joyce pointed out my ex tonight. I should have just said something…”

“We tell them next time, then.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

You reached up to cup the side of his head, pulling him in for a tender and lingering kiss. While you were uncertain what would actually change outside of being able to be more affectionate in public, you knew a part of you had been wanting to just call this what it was. Or leave it, if it wasn’t. So, there was a notable amount of relief upon Dmitri bringing that up.

“So, I guess you calling yourself my boyfriend earlier…” you said around a chuckle once you settled back into the bed.

“Was a bit of a misspeak, but it was on the tip of my tongue.”

“Well, tomorrow you can say it all you want.”

Dmitri pressed a small kiss to the side of your head in response, the gesture finally allowing your thoughts to settle as exhaustion took over. It didn’t take long for sleep to pull you under. However, your whole conversation would become pretty relevant a couple hours later when Joyce came knocking on your door to check in about you disappearing last night.

The clothes on the floor and you and Dmitri looking equally as tired and disheveled explained more than whatever words you could have said to her then, anyway.

#fandom: stranger things #dmitri antonov x reader #enzo x reader #i'm probably going to get swarmed with p*rn bots but worth it

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fandsart · 1 year

Note

The platonic stobin prompt of wedding guests.

I accidentally implemented prompt 9 as well

Robin was really hoping her parents wouldn’t find out she had plans to attend Hopper and Joyce’s wedding. Even worse is that it was all thanks to her own big mouth. It just slipped out at dinner last night and now she’s insisting on taking her shopping for a formal dress that she knows Robin doesn’t already have.

She ends up coming out of it feeling like she’s showing so much skin, because anything with more coverage is ‘probably too formal,’ and ‘it’s still more than your old Scoops Ahoy uniform.’ As if that uniform didn’t have an accompanying counter covering the rest of her from most people most of the time and still remained a curse laid upon her.

She calls Steve pretty much as soon as she gets home. He lets her go on the rant about the audacity of her mom and how annoying it was to pick something out she felt halfway comfortable in and how much time she felt like she’d wasted since she didn’t even want to wear it.

“Just give me the outfit we planned for you to wear before the wedding day, and then when it comes, you can get dressed again after you leave your house.”

“Yeah, except she wants to drive both of us to the wedding.”

“First of all, I’m a legal adult who isn’t related to her at all. She can’t make me do anything. Second of all… Why?”

“Surpise! Finding out that we were going to a wedding together did nothing to sway her perception that we’re dating. She wants to be involved in ‘the closest thing to my prom experience’ or something.”

“Man, your mom is so weird. She thinks that you talk too much but gets annoyed that she’s not more involved in your life?”

“ I think she’s reliving her childhood, vicariously, through me.”

Steve lets out a kind of grunt that Robin can tell means he’s rolling his eyes.

↞⬡+¤+⬡↠

It’s only two days before the wedding that Robin’s mom really puts her foot down. Not only would she not allow Robin to go to the wedding at all, but she’d be grounded for the next two weeks, if Robin didn’t let her drive her and Steve.

When she tells Steve, he lets out the biggest groan she’s maybe ever heard from him before asking what color the dress she got is.

“Why?”

“If we have to use it, we’re gonna match.”

↞⬡+¤+⬡↠

Steve glares at Mrs. Buckley the entire trip to the wedding. There’s no reason he and Robin both need to be crammed into the back seat except that it makes Mrs. Buckley nostalgic and she thinks it’s cute. Steve hasn’t been treated like this since he was maybe ten and the fact that Robin still has to deal with this infuriates him on her behalf.

She’s kind of hunched over herself, holding the end of the dress over her knees. When they finally get dropped off he finds her practically hiding behind him as they make their way to the seating area of the venue. Until Steve diverts their path and starts heading to the bathrooms.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” Robin asks, still trailing behind him.

“We don’t have to deal with this.”

She scoffs. “Technically I’m the one dealing with it.”

“Oh, please.” He leads her to the family bathroom and she follows him inside.

“So the plan is…” she prompts.

“Switching outfits if you’re down for it.” He doesn’t expect her to step back with uncertainty. “What? It’s not like we haven’t shared clothes before. We’re only off by, like, one size.”

“Yeah, but we’ve never shared a dress before. Are you sure you’re comfortable wearing one?”

He shrugs. “I’ve never worn one before so I’m not entirely sure, but I’m pretty sure I’ll at least be more comfortable in it than you are right now.”

“Ok, but… people will see you.”

He puts his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. “Only our friends. And we can always explain the situation. They already know dresses make you uncomfortable. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

↞⬡+¤+⬡↠

They do get some double takes, but a lot of the group had seen them enter, and had looked more confused at Robin in a dress than Steve. They must have inferred what happened themselves. The only one who really scunches their nose at the visual is Mike, who retreats with an eyeroll when Steve flips him off.

The wedding itself goes on without a hitch. Joyce looked beautiful in her dress and Hopper made a joke about his own ‘intense journey to getting in shape for this wedding.’ It’s nice, and no one even pays attention to Steve past the initial double takes, and Robin is much more physically comfortable.

But the night ends soon enough, and they have to re-change before Mrs. Buckley has to pick them up again

Still accepting prompts from the Prompt list

#stobin #platonic stobin #platonic with a capital p #platonic stobin month #stobin month #steve harrington #robin buckley #st fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #ficlet #fandsart

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scheodingers-muppet · 4 months

Text

taylor time: 1989 edition !!!!!

welcome to new york: the older teens. this song really is just having fun with your friends in your twenties, to me, at least. i can only really imagine it as like, the older teens or the kids when they’re older just having fun ❤️ also, “you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls” and them heading to a new place to just be free and themselves

blank space: steve. long list of ex lovers. i know you heard about me. it’s gonna be forever or it’s gonna do down in flames. you’re the king, baby i’m your queen. i get drunk on jealously.

style: stancy. let’s be honest. the whole chorus fits them so perfectly. james dean daydream look in your eye? long hair, slicked back? that’s steve. good girl? tight little skirt? red-lip, classic? that’s nancy. you come and pick me up, no headlights? nancy totally snuck out to go see steve. i should just tell you to leave, cause i know exactly where this leads? the studying scene.

out of the woods: jancy. there’s always something going on between them. if they’re not fighting the upside down, they’re fighting each other. “last december. we were built to fall apart and fall back together” “the monsters turned out to be just trees”

all you had to do was stay: mileven, post season 4. “people like you always want back the love they gave away, and people like me wanna believe you say you’ve changed” mike kinda, pushed off el’s love and comes back, saying he’s changed and that he does love her. “had me in the palm of your hand. why did you have to go and lock me out when i let you in?” “i’ve been picking up the pieces of a mess you made” “you were all i wanted, but not like this”

shake it off: steve, honestly. “got nothing in my brain, that’s what people say” “go on too many dates” bros just having a little dance party with robin

i wish you would: lumax. “i’ll never forget you as long as i live” “i miss you too much to be mad anymore” “you always knew how to push my buttons” just lucas wishing he could make everything better after vecna

bad blood: will/el and mike in season four. they’re both hurt by him. “it was my season for battle wounds, battle scars, body bumped, bruised” “if you love like that, blood runs cold”

wildest dreams: stancy, from nancy’s pov. talking about just starting to get with steve. i can also see this as nancy talking to him before sacrificing herself or something, asking him to remember her for the good at the beginning

how you get the girl: stancy again. steve coming back to do a big apology like he did in season two, knocking on her window with flowers and saying he missed her and he’s sorry and he’ll do better

this love: jopper ! joyce talking about losing hopper but having him come back to her in season 4 (or, not be dead, really). hopper talking about letting her go in high school and her coming back. “flickered in the night for only you” “you showed up just in time” “this love is alive, back from the dead” “when you’re young, you just run, but you come back to what you need”

i know places: steddie. the whole theme fits all the older kids, fighting monsters together, but i think it matches really well for not only a queer couple hunting monsters, but also having the added issue of the witch-hunt on eddie. “let them say what they want, we won’t hear it” “something happens when everybody finds out. see the vultures circling dark clouds”

clean: nancy, talking about her trauma. it was months and months of back and forth. you’re still all over me like a wine stained dress i can’t wear anymore” being clean not from steve, but looking back at the last several years of her life after defeating vecna and finally feeling clean from the upside down and the guilt she felt about barb. “let the flood cary away all my pictures of you” “butterflies turned to dust, they covered my whole room” and finding her room in the upside down

wonderland: elmax. finding a place they can be innocent and kids when everything is scary and knowing it won’t last forever. “haven’t you heard what becomes of curious minds?” “i should have slept with one eye open at night” both el wanting to protect max from vecna and max wanting to protect el from billy. “life was never worse but never better” both having their own struggles and being in bad spots but getting to be together

you are in love: steddie. specifically bonding after season 4. “the light reflects the chain on your neck” “your shoulders brush. no proof, one touch, but you felt enough” “you keep his shirt, he keeps his word” steve with eddie’s battle vest and eddie keeping his word of not running. i can also see this as joyce talking to steve about their guys. like, “he keeps a picture of you in his office downtown” being hop with a pic of his family in his office

new romantics: the older teens. just imagine it; they’re all on a trip to indie after graduation, just running around and having fun. sneaking into a club and finally just getting to be teenagers

“slut!”: nancy. be that with jonathan or robin or even steve. this is the most nancy coded song i’ve heard in a longggg time. “moonlit swimming pool” (sorry) “adorned with smoke on my clothes” steve smoking at the pool party in season one with her “i’ll pay the price, you won’t” nancy always getting hated on but jonathan and steve getting praised “if they call me a slut, you know it might be worth it for once” nancy “the slut” wheeler trying to find love again “if i’m gonna be drunk, i might as well be drunk in love” the halloween party fight in season 2. “everyone wants him, that was my crime. wrong place at the right time. i break down and he’s pulling me in. in a world of boys, he’s a gentleman” going from “king steve” to fighting monsters all because she was in the wrong place just as barb was taken. jonathan helping her out when she was upset and getting her to bed after the fight

say don’t go: mike and el, from el’s perspective in season 4. “i said i love you, you say nothing back” “why’d you whisper in the dark just to leave me in the night” from whispering in mikes basement to mike not being emotionally available, especially after what happened with hopper.

now that we don’t talk: stancy, from both sides. first verse is steve to nancy, second and third are from nancy to steve. last verse is both of them, with steve no longer caring about seeming cool in season 3 (ie being more “dorky” with dustin and stuff) and nancy “returning to her dignity was to turn into a shrouded mystery” becoming more reclusive and closed off to friendships in season 3 and 4 after barb, which she blames herself and steve for

suburban legends: steddie. former lovers steddie, to be specific, from eddie’s perspective. such a good angst story, with the references of loving someone who was “flush with the currency of cool” and talking about high school reunions and breaking your own heart. v steddie coded

is it over now?: stancy again. they’re very harry and taylor coded, what can i say? from nancy’s pov, talking about season 4 when they’re maybe flirting with each other again, just wanting it to be over. “lying traitor” and “bullshit” parallel. “only rumors about my hips and thighs and my whispered sighs” and the movie theatre incident. steve being known as a lady’s man, even brining new dates to watch games at hawkins high

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #mike wheeler #steddie #el hopper #taylor swift #1989 tv #this has been in my drafts for a WHILE #whoops #finally finished tho

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