Steddie Upside-Down AU Part 99
Part 1 Part 98
Steve spends a short three days in the hospital before they start the discharge. It’s surprising, somehow, that spending time slowly dying in the Upside-Down is more traumatic on the body than literal possession. Eddie can’t wrap his head around it.
He’s sitting on Steve’s bed, hopefully for the last time, hip to hip as he kicks his feet out over and over again at the same tempo of his beating heart. Steve’s got their fingers interlaced on Eddie’s thigh, flexing his own fingers to that same rhythm Eddie’d started up.
“You think it’ll be much longer?” Steve asks, slumping his head to the side and atop Eddie’s shoulder.
His hair tickles Eddie’s cheek. Eddie wants to reach up and smooth it back, but Steve’s still holding his hand, and the other one doesn’t quite reach.
“Nah, the old man’s good at getting what he wants.”
“That’s because he’s got the same big, sad eyes as you.”
Eddie squawks in fake affront even as warmth pools in his cheeks. Few people have mentioned a resemblance, and it makes him go soft and gooey every time. “I don’t have big, sad eyes!” He shakes Steve’s hand around gently in his - he’s always, always gentle. “I’m too tough.”
Steve snorts, small and tired. Even with relatively minor injuries, neither of them have been sleeping well in the small hospital cot. It’s starting to show in the circles beneath Steve’s eyes. Eddie wants to bundle him up in the backseat of Wayne’s truck and tuck him into their bed at home.
They won’t even have to come back. All they’ve got is some sort of cream for Steve’s burns, and Eddie’s bruised ribs and broken nose are supposed to heal all on their own. His concussion’s already behind him, even if things still go a little wonky if he moves his neck too quickly.
They can just convalesce. Maybe Wayne will bring them soup. Or burgers from the diner and a strawberry milkshake to split. Anything will be better than the mind-numbing sterility of the hospital, as long as they’re together.
If only Wayne would hurry the hell up.
It’s not Wayne who walks in. It’s not any of their friends, or family, or an unnamed doctor in blue scrubs. It’s not anyone he recognizes at all.
It’s a perfectly matched pair - like salt and pepper shakers at a fancy diner. Eddie feels his shoulders curl, a silent question mark to their upright forms.
The woman looks like a mannequin, in her gray pencil knit skirt and matching cardigan, belted tight enough to make her look like a wine glass. Her hair is a windswept brown and her chin’s raised just so.
The man’s suit is a pewter gray, matching her skirt perfectly. He has his hands stuffed into the pockets of his slacks, like he’s posing for a catalog as he looms imposingly on the threshold.
She knocks on the frame of the door, calling a quiet, “knock knock,” as the man strides in.
Eddie feels Steve’s hair brush against his cheek as he sits up and twists, to look at the new arrivals. Eddie doesn’t look toward him, can’t tear his eyes away from the pair, as the woman comes to stand beside the man, photogenic smile plastered to her face, even as the man glares down at them.
“Steven,” he says, eyebrows furrowed in an expression Eddie knows intimately. He’s seen it on Steve’s own face enough times. It’s less charming on the older, meaner model.
Steve drops his hand covertly and shuffles slightly to the left and away, leaving Eddie’s hand to flop to the mattress, bereft.
“Dad,” Steve replies.
Eddie turns, can’t not when Steve’s voice comes out so even, so lifeless, so dead. It’s just like when the mind flayer was running the show. Like Steve’s not there at all.
He is though. And that feels worse, because as Eddie stares at Steve’s perfect profile, he can almost see the years of distance and berating stacking themselves into the clench of his jaw and that familiar furrow of eyebrows.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” His Dad doesn’t shout, but the hiss somehow still feels like it’s echoing off the bare walls of the hospital room.
Steve flinches back. Eddie sits on his hand as it twitches without his permission to grab onto Steve’s own.
“For what, sir?” Mrs. Harrington’s perfect face scrunches up into a wince as she looks sidelong at her husband’s stony face. He opens his mouth, eyebrows angrier than ever, and Steve blurts, “I’m sorry.”
It doesn’t help.
“Sorry,” he says evenly, like his fist wasn’t clenched in preparation for a strike. “Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”
Steve sits, wordless, as he stares up at him, unblinking.
Mrs. Harrington sighs. “Oh, Steve.” It sounds sympathetic, but Steve’s back curls in, arms wrapping around his ribs as he looks down at his own hanging feet.
Eddie sits on his other hand.
Steve remains silent while storm clouds bloom above Mr. Harrington’s head.
Mrs. Harrington sighs, crossing arms and tapping perfectly manicured fingers against her own forearms, that same familiar beat that Steve gravitates toward without any of the soul.
“Sweetie,” she starts, no warmth in her voice or eyes. “I understand that you might have been feeling a little sick, but that’s no excuse for the state you left the house in.”
Eddie looks at Steve out of the corner of his eyes, and sees Steve looking right back, eyebrow quirked up in a silent question Eddie doesn’t know how to answer with witnesses.
“I’m sorry,” Steve says again, looking back down to the linoleum between his feet.
“You’re sorry?” Mr. Harrington demands, voice raising with each syllable he utters. “You flooded the house, Steven!”
Steve flinches at the sound of his name. Eddie reaches out for the connection between them and plucks it, thrumming it like a guitar. Steve smiles, just a little, down at his socked feet.
It’s a mistake. Mr. Harrington’s nostrils flare. Eddie sees the resemblance in the way his nose leans just slightly to the left, almost charmingly crooked. But there’s none of that familiar light behind Mr. Harrington’s eyes. He’s an empty pit, a bottomless well.
“We’ve had to replace all of the carpeting on the second floor,” Mrs. Harrington cuts in, looking down at her nails, uncaring as Mr. Harrington’s incensed further by her words.
“We wouldn’t have even known if the Allen’s hadn’t called us!” He’s shouting now, gesturing wildly toward the open door like whoever the Allen’s are, they’re waiting right outside, watching the show.
Mrs. Harrington sighs. “Oh, Richard. Don’t make a scene.”
As if spurred on by his wife’s chastising words, Mr. Harrington’s voice only gets louder. “You soiled the carpet beyond repair.” He punctuates his words with a raised finger, like he’s counting down all the sins he’s ready to lay at his son’s feet. “You made a spectacle of yourself in front of all the neighbors.” Another raised finger.
He points both fingers at Steve’s face, finger close enough to his nose that Eddie wants to snap out and bite it. “You left the garage open to be ransacked!” And here comes raised finger number three.
Steve’s curling further and further into himself, creating distance between his Father’s wagging finger and his vulnerable face.
“Leaving the door open, Steven?” Mrs. Harrington asks, just as aloof and uncaring of the scene in front of her, even as she says, “we could have been killed.”
Eddie can’t help the snort that comes out. It’s all just such a cartoonish display, almost unbelievable even as he watches it play out in front of him. He slaps his hand over his mouth, but both their gazes have already snapped over to him.
Well, better him than Stevie. Stevie, who Eddie’s seen with that same curled posture hiding in his closet, and looking up at his own goddamn house from the passenger seat of Eddie’s van.
He’d been straight backed facing down a demogorgon but just the sight of his parents has him fading into himself. No fucking way. Not on Eddie’s watch.
Eddie slaps his own thighs once, sharp enough that it stings. Mrs. Harrington jumps, just a little, at the sound. Eddie stands, shifting on the balls of his feet until he’s just slightly in front of Steve, ready to defend.
“Wouldn’t you have to actually be home for that?” Eddie asks.
Mrs. Harrington gasps, hand over her cheek like Eddie had slapped her. “Excuse me?” she asks, at the same time that Mr. Harrington demands, “who are you?”
Eddie puts his pointer finger to his chin, pouting like he’s really thinking this through. “You know, I think you’d know that if you were ever actually around.”
Steve stands, shoulder to shoulder with Eddie as his Dad takes a threatening step toward Eddie.
“This is Eddie,” Steve says, voice flat and cold. King Steve’s come out to play. Eddie grins, manic and wide in that way that’s always worked to rile up cops and teachers alike. It works just as well on the Harrington’s. He sticks out his tongue and almost laughs again when Mrs. Harrington takes a startled step back. “You’d know that if you gave half a shit about me.”
Mr. Harrington scoffs as he looks Eddie up and down, eyeing the rips in his jeans, the frayed hem of his t-shirt, the unkempt length of his hair. He turns away, dismissing him without even a word as he looks back at Steve.
“It’s time to go,” he says, glaring down at his son. “We’ll talk about this at home.”
Steve takes a step away from Mr. Harrington’s grasping hands. Eddie reaches out, interlocking their fingers again and squeezing tight. The splint on Steve’s finger sticks out awkwardly, digging into Eddie’s own hand as Steve squeezes right back.
“Eddie is my home,” Steve says, like that isn’t the most romantic thing he’s ever heard.
He almost swoons, even as Mr. Harrington rages, looking between the pair of them, making connections Eddie desperately hopes are true and even more desperately hopes the man won’t go spreading around.
“Last chance,” Mr. Harrington says. “Or we’re-”
He doesn’t get to finish. Wayne chooses that moment to walk in. His stance goes loose immediately, gaze sharp.
“Richard,” he says. Calm, cool, and gruff as he meets both their enraged eyes, one after another. “Nora.”
Mrs. Harrington sucks on her teeth, mouth pursed as she holds her silence. Mr. Harrington has no such compunction.
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
Wayne raises his eyebrow before turning his back on them to run his eyes over Steve and Eddie in turn. “You boys alright?” Steve nods, but Eddie raises his hand to flap it back and forth in a wishy-washy gesture that Wayne grimaces at. “Ready to go home?”
Richard scoffs, taking a threatening step forward. “What do you mean home?” Steve flinches as the last word lands with derision. Steve doesn’t respond, just looks down at his own shoes with a clenched jaw.
Mrs. Harrington sighs, and it lands in the room like a blow.
Wayne’s eyes have gone hold and hard as he turns around and steps fully in front of Steve. “Steve’s been staying with me for over a year,” Wayne says, tone modulated and controlled even as his hands clench. “And you didn’t even notice.”
“Steven,” Richard says, a warning hidden in his tone. “Last chance.”
Eddie leans around Wayne to look between the pair. He resists the urge to pull Steve behind him. Eddie squeezes his hand and is floored when Steve’s shoulders immediately straighten, chin raised just so, like he’s keeping his crown straight atop his head.
He stands, shoulders back, head held high. Eddie stands right along with him.
“I’m not going with you,” Steve says, boring holes into his Father’s head with the force of his conviction from behind Wayne’s shoulder.
Mr. Harrington’s jaw clenches with whatever he sees on Steve’s face. He reaches his hand out, palm open and beckoning. “Give me your keys,” he demands, curling his fingers like he’s in a cheesy karate movie and begging his opponent to make the first move.
Steve laughs. “You want my car?” His laugh is hollow. “You’ll have to go get it from the trailer park.”
Mrs. Harrington eyes Eddie and Wayne like she’s putting pieces together he’d rather she not have. Even still, she turns away with an airy, “Come on, Richard.” When he doesn’t immediately follow her directions, she continues, “this isn’t the place.”
Mr. Harrington’s snarling like a dog, finger still raised in threat as he hisses, “this isn’t over,” before turning and striding through the door with enough careless force that his shoulder hits the frame with a meaty thwack.
“See you next year, then!” Eddie calls, waving bitchily at their backs.
They all stare at the open door, waiting for an attack that never comes until Mrs. Harrington’s heels stop echoing down the corridor.
“What the hell was that?” Wayne asks gruffly.
Steve’s jaw is clenched, as he glares out the open doorway, but at Wayne’s question, he slumps, stepping closer to Eddie until he can lay some of his weight onto Eddie’s shoulders. It hurts his ribs, but Eddie takes it gladly, wrapping his hand around Steve’s waist.
“Just the usual,” Steve says, sounding exhausted.
Wayne eyes him critically as Steve avoids his gaze. Eddie squeezes Steve’s side, flickering his fingers against his waist just to feel him wriggle against the feeling.
“Alright, kid,” Wayne says, reaching out to squeeze both their shoulders comfortingly. Steve slumps further into Eddie who gladly takes his weight. “I think it’s about time we all get home.”
Eddie smiles, bumping his hip into Steve.
He was already home. After all, Steve’s right here.
Part 100
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Some of the evidence supporting Mike not being in love with El is brutal. No, but seriously.
In s3, when El's leg is injured, instead of Mike putting his arm around her waist, allowing him to take some of the weight off her injured leg, he puts his arm around her shoulder, basically having the exact opposite affect of taking the weight off of her, instead just adding more weight for her to have to carry.
Now, I’m not coming at Mike here, I’m actually coming at the writers, because this choice here has everything to do with them using this gesture to signal Mike’s lack of feelings for El, even at the expense of realism.
I say this bc any person with common sense, including Finn and everyone around him and Millie filming these shots, would've known it looked unnatural for Mike to be adding more weight onto El as opposed to taking some off of her.
This means that what Mike did here, Finn was directed to do, and therefore it was for a specific reason.
And we know they could have easily made the opposite choice, because they show us Max AND Lucas doing it.
See how putting an arm around El's waist looks so much more natural? Because homegirl is injured and clearly needs help taking weight off her leg to qualm some of the pain she's experiencing there, which is why Max and Lucas are shown here doing it the correct way.
And so, why can't Mike do the same? Why are the writers making a point to show Mike being incapable of simply taking some weight off of El, instead doing the exact opposite?
I don't think it's as deep as Mike not being able to do something intimate, and that's bc, again we see Max and Lucas doing it.
I honestly think what they're trying to convey with this choice here, is that Mike thinks he's helping El, when he is in fact doing the opposite despite his best efforts. The implications of that and how that sort of aligns with their romantic relationship and what it leads to at the end of s3, going into s4, is pretty spot on.
I do think Mike thinks he's doing the right thing by being with El instead of voicing any doubts at the end of s3, because he is under the assumption that she is in love with him. I do think he believes he is indebted to her and that this is the least he can do after everything they've been through together, which has mostly been riddled with romantic pressures and so continuing that instead of disputing it seems like the only option anyways. Not to mention, he does care for her deeply, so it's not hard to imagine that he's a teenage boy confusing deep care for love (he literally tells us this is his problem when he can only say care and not love to El's face... but that's a whole other conversation).
Still, when it's all said and done, Mike's not actually doing El any favors by being with her romantically, if that is not what he truly wants.
Because that's the sad truth about all of this, which is that you would never want someone to be with you just because you want them. If you knew that they truly couldn't have those feelings for you, you'd want to know, right? You don't deserve someone just because you have deep feelings for them. And I think there's so many layers to this idea, bc many people are capable of not giving Byler a chance bc they truly believe Mike could never return Will's feelings. Will also feels this way atp, so though it hurts, he rips the band aid off, because he would never want Mike to be with him just out of pity or something. No one would want that. And so it all really comes down to who Mike truly loves romantically and wants to be with. And the right thing to do, even if it hurts someone, is to be honest, because being with them just bc you think that will make them happy is never going to be enough if you aren't truly feeling it, or worse, feel it for someone else.
We see how Mike's inability to be honest with El at the end of s3, leads to a season of Mike feeling deeply insecure and undeserving of the love El has to offer him, and even though he does try, he always comes up short. Despite Mike putting up this front that they are the perfect couple, the details are telling us something is off. And it gives him away.
Another example that I think is very similar to this loaded gesture from Mike to El in s3, is the scene in s4 when they hug in the airport.
Common sense ppl, picture this: You're reuniting with your long distance girlfriend. Then suddenly, she runs up to you, with her arms wide open, and instead of opening your arms wide to embrace her properly, you take the bouquet of flowers you brought her as a gift, and shove them against your chest just as she approaches to hug you, effectively squishing the present you got for her (a pretty delicate present at that) for no reason other than to... what exactly?
Like?? El isn't even squishing the present Mike, she's trying to hug you, dude! Your gf is trying to hug you properly and you threw the gift you got for her in between you so you could throw in a careful! x3??
Again, this has less to do with Mike's thoughts and reasoning behind this gesture in a literal sense, and more to do with the simple fact that this is a narrative choice! Mike is not a real person! There are real people sitting down and writing this and actors are having to do multiple takes to act it out. What feels natural for a situation is going to be what is often chosen 9 times out of 10, because of realism and wanting the audience to see stuff happening that is believable. That 1 time though, when it's not being done the way it would usually be, is usually because there's a specific reason for it.!
So the question really is, not why is Mike doing this, but why are the writers having Mike do this, and what message are they trying to convey about Mike's feelings based on his behavior, in these moments where he's just not capable of committing to El genuinely, one way or another?
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I’m not sure if Trolls, TWT and TBT would be involved in this AU like you did with I’m still here AU
For this you were born AU (I seriously love this AU! For some reason I want do AU that was inspired by this AU, I hate getting ideas from others that is originally their ideas-)
Anyway, if Trolls happen, then how would John Dory and Branch feel if Poppy, the snack pack and others who are WILLING to throw a biggest loudest and craziest party ever. How would Viva feel about this? What about Clay, Spruce and Floyd?
I know they’ll NOT going to like this because they knew John Dory and Branch went through so much. The fact Poppy had no clue what happened. John Dory would hate that, he has traumas, right?
How badly it would goes when Chef found the Pop Trolls and we know what happens the rest.
Alright, first of all - go for it dude. I honestly, do not mind if you want to use it for inspo, or a starting off point or even an au of the au. Like, if that what works for you, go for it. You aren't the only one - although I'm super flattered it has inspired people like that.
Okay, so I'm not entirely sure how the Trolls movies in general would go with this entirely, yet. I have thought about it, briefly, but not much, just with the shear number of aus I have a tendency to come up with. I'm not entirely sure how much fear there is with the village. Don't get me wrong, they feared the Bergens but no one's past is the same. Branch has some Bergen-related trauma but it's very, very different than canon Branch and his memory is kind of shrouded anyways. Even Viva doesn't have the same type of trauma; there is no scary great escape, trolls weren't lost in collapsed tunnels, she wasn't separated from her family. So honestly, I'm not even sure how paranoid she would be about that. I'm not saying she wouldn't, I'm just not entirely sure either. In general, no ones trauma about the Bergens is quite the same as in canon. I'm not entirely sure how it all kind of plays out but in this, JD's is definitely the most poignant. The dude spent weeks around a Bergen that he eventually literally killed, all under the fear he would be eaten and his baby brother as well.
I think it would happen possibly earlier than in canon, the events of Trolls. Things are so different. The Village is different. Clay is innovative and Viva is there and well, things are just so different. And I'm not entirely sure who would all get taken. The events of the movie would definitely change, depending on who is taken.
If JD got taken, that would be horrifying but I'm not... I won't say that the Bergens don't know about him and what he did. Because that is entirely possible that word had gotten back on how that specific Bergen died - was killed. And people in the city he was in/near the Bergen's house know it was him. He was just never arrested because it was self-defense, and no one gives a crap about a dead troll-eating monster.
If Branch got taken, that is a whole other can of worms that would lead to a ton of panic, especially on JD's part. If any of the bros got taken, it would be kind of a shitstorm cause JD is not letting that happen. JD in general is kind of sensitive to some things anyways, so he doesn't particularly appreciate loud parties and stuff.
If they did befriend the Bergens, JD would avoid them and they would avoid him. I don't think there would be quite any... friendships there. Maybe forgiveness, at some point, but JD has too much pent up things when it comes to a Bergen that he needs to deal with. He knows, they, specifically, aren't the Bergen he killed but he's still freaked out. And well... he is a tiny troll that literally killed one of their own. That has got to be terrifying. So, no real trust or friendship there but JD is also all for not being hunted/eaten/etc. so he's not particularly bothered by others befriending Bergens.
But like I said, if they were to befriend the Bergens at all. It's even possible they wouldn't.
All in all, the original trolls movie might be a little different but the main aspect would be the same. Unless they don't befriend the Bergens, then it would be WAY different.
As for TWT... well, okay, so I've had a bit of a convo with someone about Peppy. JD and Branch know a ton about the other tribes and well, we know Peppy is desperate to keep things a secret. I'm not saying he's evil in this by any means, but he does do some dirty work, so to speak, and tries to keep JD quiet. I've kind of bounced some thoughts around about it and there have been suggestions. It's very casual with JD and Branch, them talking about the other tribes but when Peppy gets a whiff of it... he has a talk with JD.
And JD, although a strong troll and strong willed, is very tired at this point still, since it's early in him coming home. He's tired and kind of overwhelmed and he's got a bunch of chronic pain that he's trying to deal with in a troll way. It's like a recovery all over again. And with everything being so new and Branch being so young and JD being so protective, JD stays quiet about it. He still kind of talks, mostly with his family, but he doesn't go out of his way to tell others about the other tribes. He does have to have a talk with Branch about talking about his other friends/the other tribes which Branch is super confused about. Understandably.
I'm not sure when/if the other bros kind of get a whiff of the threats JD is under; he doesn't really make it apparent and since he doesn't talk a lot anyways, it might not be readily seen right away.
But TWT would happen when Branch is a teenager. I think that would make sense with this. Barb, in her rebellion or whatever, is starting her whole World Tour and Branch gets really worried about his other friends in the other tribes. Poppy learns the full truth about the existence of the other tribes, kind of in a way like, wait, this sounds like the stories Branch used to tell me when we were young.
She's not super happy that Branch kept it from her, and she doesn't get answers on why, but she goes on her trip anyways and Branch follows.
And JD chases after them in Rhonda. Floyd would probably come. Possibly Clay. I'm not entirely sure. Maybe Viva, actually.
Obviously things with Delta would be vastly different, although now that I think about it, JD and Delta's reunion might not come until later... you know, for angst purposes. Things with Hickory and Dickory would also be different, obviously.
This would take a WHOLE lot more thought on the matter because this one would change a lot.
TBT... Idk does it really matter much? None of them are in a band so they never really even heard of the family harmony. And none of them are estranged. So I guess that wouldn't happen at all. There could be a whole kidnapping thing, but that would be an ENTIRELY different plot then because well, things are super different. But at this point, TBT wouldn't even really be a thing.
Uh... I think that's all I got
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