just thought about father's day for everyone in stranger things and nearly keeled over in pain

911/firefighter!steve x dispatcher!eddie AU

he’s gonna be just fine 🙂

Dustin can't believe it. Dustin doesn't want it to be true.

Why would Steve date Billy Hargrove? It doesn't make any sense. It's not a problem that Billy is a guy, it's a problem that Billy is that guy. Loud, mean and gross.

Last time Dustin saw him, he called the Party the "Sad Losers Club" and that one time he drove Dustin home (very reluctantly, after Steve talked him into it for like half an hour) they nearly crashed into a tree, because Dustin asked Billy to drive slower, but instead that asshole only drove quicker.

And now they went over to the Byers for a big dinner to celebrate that the horrors of the Upside Down have been only nightmares for half a year now, and Steve brings Billy.

Now, Dustin has to share Steve. Steve who looks at Billy with the biggest eyes Dustin has ever seen. Billy who is winking at Dustin like he knows what he's doing. That he's stealing Steve.

But then Mike mentions the Mind Flayer and Billy just freezes for a second. Nearly drops his knife at that.

"I'm out for a smoke," he mumbles. Steve follows him, hot on his heels and Dustin hates it.

Dustin isn't spying on them. He's just on the way to the bathroom and happens to be close to the backyard.

Billy doesn't look so big, arrogant and threatening anymore. He's rubbing his eyes with one hand like he's crying.

"It's stupid," he grumbles.

Steve holds his hand.

"It's gone, Billy," Steve says and he just sounds so soft. "You're free. Your body is yours. It can't touch you anymore."

Billy sniffs. "You can touch my body though."

Uh. Gross.

Steve laughs. Leans forward and kisses Billy on his cheek. Billy grins at him and hugs him.

"Thanks. For.. you know.." His voice is hoarse and he seems.. shy? That doesn't really fit into the poster of Billy Hargrove in Dustin's mind. He's everything but shy.

Oh. It dawns on Dustin. Dustin doesn't like Billy. Billy doesn't like Dustin.

Billy likes Steve. It's a good thought actually. Steve likes Billy and Billy likes Steve.

Maybe they can somehow live with it. Except when Billy calls him a dork again, Dustin is going to tell Hopper.

"Are you fucking creeping on us, Henderson?"

"Dustin, seriously?"

Shit.

The party gets into a debate about who gives the best hugs. Lucas says max does, which she thinks is very sweet but entirely incorrect because obviously Steve gives the best hugs. Dustin agrees wholeheartedly. Mike refuses to let Steve win so he says Will gives the best hugs. Will is like oh that's nice...Mike you give the best hugs :). El is like you are wrong Hopper gives the best hugs. No one can argue with her on that but Dustin is adamant that Hop only gives her the best hugs because he's her dad and therefore Steve gives the best hugs.

Steve hears this and is like you all are wrong Robin gives the best hugs, hands down. No contest.

And the Party is flabbergasted because Robin is not a huggy person. She's barely a touchy person. Like yeah she'll give a shoulder pat or a friendly elbow, but whenever Robin hugs one of them it's awkward and stiff.

When informed of this Steve is like "...uh. no? She's literally so clingy? We hang off each other all the time? Her hugs are amazing? What are you talking about?"

"yeah cause she's in love with you"

Steve doesn't dignify that with a response other than a huff.

Eddie walks in and Steve thinks he's got an ally in this pointless battle. Eddie is firmly of the opinion Steve gives the best hugs. Because he does. Nice big hugs with an extra squeeze in the middle. There is no other reason involving his big gay crush on Steve or his love of Being Held. Nope. None.

Steve is frustrated because while it's touching they think Steve gives good hugs, they are not acknowledging Robin's superior hugging!! The disrespect! Sacrilege!! Disgraceful!! And everyone is like Steve!! She doesn't give us hugs! Only you!!

Finally, Robin comes in. Steve stands and glares at the party, he'll show them.

"Robin!" He says, arms wide.

"Steve!" She grins and dives into him, curling her arms around his waist, tucks her face right into his neck, and rocks them back and forth, giving a good squeeze before they release each other.

Steve turns to the group with a smug expression because see? Best hugs.

Dustin is going to prove Steve wrong. He gets up. Smiles. Opens his arms.

"hey Robin!" And waits. Robin smiles and looks at him. Pats his arm. Give him a bit of a side hug outside his arms. Ruffles his hair.

"hey?"

Dustin grins.

"so we were talking about who gives the best hugs and-

"oh, Steve, definitely. Absolutely. Hands down no contest. Why?"

Hiiii 🕺✨🕺✨

I posted this a few days ago on ig, but I quite like it so for the 5 people who see this here you go 🤲🤲

(@/taeiris_'s dtiys on Instagram btw!!)

I can so perfectly picture Eddie as this doordasher wearing that shirt

He is. So So Tired, just to start off the day. Did not sleep at all the night before because first he was in the zone perfecting his latest campaign but then he went a little overboard with the villain's backstory; then he realized that if his party didn't question specific people and roll high enough persuasion to get this information, he wouldn't get to tell this story. So then he went on to craft an npc bard who would be singing about the villain and- wait he's a songwriter. Oh how sick would it be if he had his players in a tavern or something after they defeated the Big Bad and then Eddie, at the table, could take out his guitar and play that song to tell the villain's tragic backstory? Amazing, showstopping, incredible. Except he was almost done writing a song he could play on his acoustic that would sound kind of medieval-ly when he realized- wait this is good, actually. What the fuck. He should make a real song out of this for Corroded Coffin. And when he finally tries to go to sleep he keeps laying wide awake with ideas for a whole concept album from the viewpoint of the Bard and-

Point is he's borderline delirious when he gets dressed to dash to some doors - enough that when he looks at the “if she sits on your face, she legally owns you…. Squatters rights and all that” on the shirt Jeff got him for his birthday he giggles for a minute straight while getting dressed and then on and off again until he's in his van.

He loses some time in the routine of getting people their shit and driving until he rings a bell and a distracted pin-up angel from jock-heaven opens the door in some ratty green basketball shorts and nothing else unless you count the t-shirt he's decidedly not wearing but using to wipe... flour? And something else? From his face.

"Hi, sorry, give me a second - I don't care that you're old enough to drive, Henderson! You don't touch another thing in that kitchen until I'm back or I swear to God- give me a second, I want to give you the tip in cash, that's better for you, right?" "...Huh? Yeah, it's- yeah" Sue him, Eddie's distracted. There's hairy chest right in front of his sleep-deprived face and he's considering his conversion to becoming a tits man - except in that moment the (literally) dirty angel turns away and oh Jesus Christ. Yeah, no, still an ass man. Oh wow.

He loses some time again and when he's all there once more he's holding a marker and has just - in view of his future owner, fingers crossed - blacked out the "S" on his shirt so it says "if ■he sits on your face, ■he legally owns you" instead. He's still trying to figure out how this happened and if the surprised look on his doordashee's face is leaning good or bad when fucking Dustin Henderson walks around the corner.

you stuck by me🫶🏻

i hope we can all agree that both mike wheeler and el hopper are Not Straight

Since someone mentioned it, the way Dustin is treated is lowkey criminal

my hot take of the day is that the fanon trope of all of the party agreeing that will is hot/will is the best/crushing on will (except el) is... honestly, it's actually more applicable to mike 💀 like canonically every member of the party has desired mike's attention and acted fucking bonkers when they didn't get it

🎃 the party's halloween costumes after season 3!!! 🎃 

a little character concept design

I want a scene in s5 where Dustin and Lucas are the only ones who know that Will and/or Mike is in the Upside Down and they have to come clean to Joyce. Imagine the innate fear of having to look Joyce Byers in the eye and telling her that her son is the Upside Down.

Look I am weak for AU's

WEAK

One AU I love for Steddie is Pirate AU and all I can think about is Eddie, captain of the ship Hellfire boarding a royal boat looking for treasures maybe a captive. He gets both!

He finds Prince Steve.

Eddie the Banished (who used to be a Prince who was accused of false crimes thus banished from his own kingdom) is just like: "You'll do Big Boy."

The crew is totally expecting Steve to start pleading for his life or to maybe try and convince them to take someone in his place but he just gets up and starts to get dressed with an excited smile because this was the first time he was allowed out of the kingdom and now he gets more adventure!

Steve: "Okay! Can I pack a bag? Is that allowed? How long do you think I'll be with you because I have to be honest, I will need to take my bathing supplies if you think it's going to be long."

Eddie who had been checking out the royal "assets": "Hm? Oh uh...yes? Yes you can bring a bag. Whatever you want Your Highness "

The crew is just staring at Eddie like, you useless gay, really now? As we're doing the job? But they know once Eddie's interests are piqued it's a done deal. Eddie's, and maybe some of the crew's hearts melt when Steve asks them for a favor.

Steve: "Can we please also bring my Personal Attendant? He is young and not like the other men in the castle. I fear if I were to leave him, the others would not be as kind to him as they are with me here, which if you ask me is not as kind as they could be. His name is Dustin, he should be in the quarters down below. Oh and also Robin, she is a Minstrel and I know if I were to leave her she would not make it back to the castle."

And like...how can they refuse? Like they are pirates but that does not make them bad people and the Prince seemed desperate and sincere so what the heck? They also kidnap Dustin and Robin along with Steve.

Steve when he sees Robin and Dustin on the Hellfire: "My friends!!"

Robin: "You had us kidnapped."

Steve: "Yes."

Dustin: "You are unbelievable!"

Steve: "Would you have preferred to stay on the ship with Thomas and all the others?"

Dustin and Robin grumbling but shaking their heads.

Steve: "Besides! Look at it this way, we get to go on a better adventure than visiting Prince Jason and convincing his father that continued trade with our kingdom is beneficial to us all."

Steve, Dustin and Robin really bond with the crew and Captain Eddie keeps "forgetting" to send out the ransom note everytime they port and pillage if that's what they decide. Eddie literally is head over heels for his little prince so fast it's not even funny, like he let's him sleep in his quarters, he makes sure he and his friends are well fed. He does not tie any of them up or put them in cells. He'll when he and Gareth were trying to make sense of a new treasure map they had gotten their hands on, that Dustin kid was the one who solved the first riddle for them. Now he, Robin and Steve were basically helping Eddie and his inner ring solve the map. Steve always said he had nothing to tribute to the group but it was his little thoughts and comments that really helped from time to time and he solved one of the riddles all on his own.

Basically Steve, Robin and Dustin get adopted by a pirate crew and just become pirates!

i was reading a scoops era steddie au where eddie visits scoops often and one thing i noticed i alway want but have yet to see (bear in mind my fic pallette is basically just shit i see on Tumblr and occasionally reading every fic a certain author has written) is a specific scene of eddie noticing stobins missing when he goes to visit them at scoops the day theyre stuck in the bunker. cause they entered the bunker after a shift one night and didn't get out until at the soonest the next afternoon right before the mall closes so if either or both of them were scheduled to work then they'd be just... gone.

and how characters around them handle that depends on how soon (if at all) they're declared missing. did robin think they'd be in-and-out in their snooping and tell her parents shes be back a little late or did she think they'd be out kinda late fucking around and just lied to her parents telling them shes sleeping over at a friend's like how we know tina was going to cover for erica? did mrs Henderson freak out when Dustin didn't bike back home (knowing what happened with will) or did she know he was with steve and trusted that they were goofing off or something?

and usually i see Steve's parents not being home but what if they were?? they could panic because steve always has some sort of excuse for why hes gone or maybe just his mom starts worrying because while his dad never really asks about him she does and she knows hes probably not at some girls house right now because he at least would have told her. or maybe mrs harrington doesn't know her son as well as she thinks she does and assumes he is out at some girls house and is relieved hes finally getting to be more like himself.

maybe just one or two people in scoops troop are reported missing that night and maybe the search started for them is enough for the other's parents or friends to realize they're all missing. maybe none of them are because they each already had a coverup with the people who'd notice. maybe they spent a good few hours in that elevator regretting lying about where they'd be because now no one knows they're in danger and by the time they start looking it could be too late (obviously erica didn't seem to grasp this yet but shes literally 10 and it's definitely her fist severely traumatic life or death experience. for the others tho it could definitely be on their minds and i have seen a few fics where robin wonders about how steve and Dustin are reacting like they've done scary shit like this before together)

then morning comes and id give it until lunch with no calls or anything before parents who believed their kids were sleeping over to start worrying seriously. maybe they call the friend their child's supposedly with and get a confused parent saying they haven't seen them or maybe they get the friend picking up and confirming they're fine (like tina). but if Mrs Henderson gets worried and calls steve she'll either get the harringtons saying he isn't home right now or she won't be able to reach him. and knowing steves like a big brother and a best friend to dustin knows that if steve missing too he's probably at least missing with him and goes to the station worried about them both

and then theres the fact that scoops has to open in the morning, probably sometime around 10am. maybe steve and robin were scheduled to both work again and as 10am comes and passes scoops ahoy hasn't been touched. maybe some mall manager calls the scoops manager (forgive me ive never worked in a mall but i do work in a store-within-a-store and we have our own manager plus the big store manager) and asks where their employees are. if missing persons reports were filed that last night then the manager would be really worried while frantically trying to find someone to cover for them. but maybe no one knows they're missing yet and their manager is grumbling about their no-shows, maybe considering firing them for both disappearing without even calling out. depending on how much they know and if the reports were filed, whoever has to cover their shifts is either worried about their coworkers (probably moreso robin than steve because of his reputation) or utterly pissed that they both didn't show and they have to open scoops ahoy with a few hours delay and probably a good few karens bitching about being closed. or maybe one or the other was scheduled and while their no-show is really inconvenient at least someone's there to open and ask for backup

and then theres steves car still parked in the back where it was the day before. a bike left behind at the mall is less eyebrow-raising but a fancy car? Steve Harrington's car? Steve Harrington who was scheduled to work today but somehow isn't in scoops right now? is he skipping work while simultaneously wandering around his workplace? and whats worse is despite evidence being there *no one can find him*. maybe thats what it takes for people to realize hes like actually missing. maybe they think he was kidnapped, hopefully he just went home with some girl and lost track of time.

and then theres eddie. eddie whos been stopping by scoops for a while now. maybe he still doesn't really like Harrington but likes teasing him with Buckley or maybe they've gotten pretty close. maybe they're already dating. maybe eddie walks up to scoops one morning to find it closed or to find that one or the other didn't show up for work this morning. maybe he hears from the worker that ones missing or maybe they get a rant about how pissed the worker is to be opening alone. maybe he's the one to go to a mall manager or security officer worried about scoops being closed because he *knows* the people that are supposed to be there right now and they don't just abandon work at the same time with no explanations.

or maybe eddie visits in the afternoons and learns they're missing from their coworkers or maybe hes there because he saw it on the news and went on his our hunt. either way it'd probably end with Eddie looking around the mall for them because he knows steve isn't going to just abandon his beemer in a busy public parking lot. maybe he finds them high out of their minds while checking the movie theatre (this one i do see a lot and am obsessed with its so good) or maybe he doesn't find them at all (its a big mall and they are actively hiding from Russians who know they escaped. sure stobin are not being very secretive while high but dustin and erica are at least keeping them in less-discoverable locations). maybe he goes home knowing hes looked everywhere in that damn mall and assumes they're probably kidnapped and taken somewhere else (if he did find them tho that opens a whole can of worms for if, how, and how much eddie gets involved and while my brains gone down sone of those rabbit holes i don't think i will today)

and then they see the news about the mall fire. and eddie knows damn well that he looked everywhere in that mall but didn't see a trace of his friends but there they are on the news and apparently in the fire. maybe eddie assumes he didn't look hard enough. but maybe he sees how steves the only one with more than a few bruises on his legs, how despite them claiming he was trapped in rumble that also allegedly killed billy hargrove he looks like hes carrying himself on adrenaline alone and hovering around robin and the kids like something more than falling support beams could get to them. maybe its the fact that he look as shit as he did but wasn't laying down on a hospital stretcher like he would be if he just got those wounds.

_._._._

hi if you saw any typos no you didn't UNLESS theyre funny or actually concerning then you should tell me and i can react appropriately

also i swear i feel like doctor strange looking through every possible reality when i go on tangents like this. idk whenever i come up with little fics in my head or come up with different ways my favorite unfinished fics could end im always exploring as many different versions of the same scenario as i can and coming up with as many what-ifs as i can.

also i pressed the poll button by accident while making this and idk how to make it go away to we're trying just ignoring it and not writing anything in it to see if it goes away

actually fuck that it probably wont work so im adding a poll question as a treat for the people who read this far

someone will be like "i'd like you to meet my beautiful daughter" and he looks at you like this