Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3
CW: I cuss a lot in this one, I usually don’t warn for that, but I know some Tumblr fic readers want to be warned!! FINALLY PART 4 IS HERE DON’T COME TO MY HOUSE WITH PITCHFORKS LOVE YALL!!!
Steve blinks at the open box, Nancy’s hand on his shoulder trying to peer around and see for herself.
The piece was different, rougher. Nothing like the original trinkets left.
It was nearly black in color, peaks of silver coming through where it was hammered. It didn’t have one even edge, it looked like Steve could cut himself on it. But it was smooth when he ran a fingertip over the piece.
There was also a wire wrapped around the thinnest part of it, he took the wrapped wire between his thumb and index finger, feeling the curves of it.
Steve realizes he’s just been standing there, marveling at the rugged beauty of it, when Nancy nudges him with her shoulder.
“Wow, Steve, that’s not—“
“It’s not very me, is it?” Steve lightly chuckles, slipping it on to his right middle finger.
A perfect fit, per usual. He admires it, flipping his hand over to see where the wrapped part of it sits on the back of his finger.
It’s silly that something so small could have such an impact on you.
That ring, that gift Eddie had given to him, it opened everything in him.
Flayed him alive and displayed his most buried thoughts on his sleeve. Well, more so his hand.
Steve speed walks into his house, waving Nancy away, stating he needed time to think. The thing was, he wasn’t ready to unpack how he felt in front of his ex girlfriend.
But as the ring was forged, it forged something new in Steve that he wasn’t quite sure how to feel.
Something quite terrifying.
Steve Harrington had spent years not knowing who he was. Extra minutes spent looking himself over in the mirror, feeling like a robot. All the polos he still wore that his mother had bought him, the soft sweaters that truly brought out that babysitter everyone walked all over.
His fucking hair.
The hair was still…him. It was his identity for years. Steve wasn’t ready to give that up.
But something snapped.
Steve got out the trimmer that he never thought he’d use for anything other than…well, not the hair on his head. He knew he should call Robin or tell Nancy to come back, he thinks he heard her car finally pull out of his driveway, it wouldn’t take long.
But he didn’t need to be told no right now.
A shaky breath in, a look in the mirror and the trimmer is buzzing through the right side of his hair.
Steve feels the stray pieces fall onto his shoulders and onto the floor, it feels…good. Like weight plucked off his heavy fucking shoulders.
After the right side is done, he starts on the left side, now on a mission. Hair continues to fall onto his shoulders, the sink, the floor.
A few tears have rolled down Steve’s cheek, the wave of emotions hitting him all at once. Manic laughter bubbles out of him as he stands there after finishing, looking at the new image that he created over a ring.
But it wasn’t really the ring, he knew that. It was was the fact Eddie gave him something to help unlock the facade he had been keeping up for too long.
When Steve is considering going for the whole shebang, the doorbell rings and startles him out of his spell. He had felt like he was forgetting something, he just truly couldn’t remember what it—
“Steve? Honey?” Joyce’s warm voice rings out into the home after the creaky front door opens. He needed to fix that ages ago.
“Joyce, you can’t just burst into a man’s domain—“ he can practically hear the eye roll in Hopper’s voice.
“I’m up here,” Steve weakly calls out, sliding onto his bathroom floor. He hears the stairs creak as well, soft footsteps jogging up.
“Honey, did you forget we’re here for din—“ Joyce stops at the doorframe and slowly takes in the sight in front of her. She slowly lowers to his level, a look of sympathy heavy on her face.
“It was time for uh, a change, I guess,” Steve doesn’t meet her eyes, feeling embarrassed now for how crazy he must look.
“Change, change is good,” she offers, smiling and sweeping some hair off his cheek, “let’s clean this up and get some food in you. We brought Will and El, but we can have Jon come get them if—“
“No, it’s okay,” Steve clears his throat and starts to get up, his hair starting to make his neck itch. They clean in silence, he appreciates that she can always tell what he needs. Joyce Byers was always more of a mom than Steve’s own mother. Which is why he asks—
“Can I—can I trust you with something?”
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no one talks about the end of little women in regards to jo's arc enough.
We know the writers used little women as inspiration for s4 and its clearly characterized with will/mike/el, will being characterized as amy, mike as laurie and el as jo.
Jo's ending is her being happily single DESPITE someone loving her and her not ending up with them in the end. her entire character arc through the movie is being independent, regardless of what the audience thinks will happen (ie: relationship built up A TON with laurie and doesnt end up with him, relationship built up with frederick and actually ends up with him despite the minimal build up)
I just think it's interesting how Jo's arc makes sense in the context of el's character arcs throughout the seasons but mostly in s4.
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Tonight I watched my first non-Perry Mason William Hopper film: 20 Million Miles to Earth. On the one hand, it's a campy monster romp, with jerky animitronics and absurd plotting. But on the other, it's an incredible example of mid-century Sci-Fi and a delightful addition to the kaiju genre made by Americans for one of the first times.
Watching it, it's so easy to see how Godzilla, King of the Monsters! from just a year earlier influenced this movie. What's also fun about that is that, of course, that movie featured Raymond Burr in the American version, while 20 Million starred William Hopper. For both, these were among their penultimate roles before the premiere of Perry Mason, which would come to define both their professional careers.
Overall, a solid 8/10. Would watch again.
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