The Reaction I Had When I Tried To Search The Tag "Steve Harrington Has Golden Retriever Energy" In AO3

I saw this post and it gave me flashbacks of a few days ago when i was going to my campus and a bike with some people dressed as and elf and Santa Claus passed right in front of the car.

Now, imagine that but with Steve as Santa and Robin as the elf.

Bonus points if instead of a bike is Eddie’s van full of the Party dressed as some Christmas character and when they get out they look like a Christmas version of a clown car.

i really wish platonic relationships were more important. i’m tired of losing friendships because i’m less important than their significant other. i hate that i’m automatically not as close to my friends because i’m not the person they’re dating/sleeping with. and i hate how whenever i complain about it the response is “you’ll find someone too someday!” like no I shouldn’t have to “find someone” to feel loved and important, maybe we should stop promoting investing all your time and effort and physical and emotional intimacy into one romantic/sexual partner idk

Just here thinking about Steve getting isekai'ed. Like. One of my favorite things is reading generic isekai mangas/manhwas with overpowered protagonists and convenient situations at the point i don't even remeber wich ones i've read.

So imagine one Steve harrington getting summoned into an isekai, him being the basic hero who needs to defeat the demon King, going on a journey, making comrades, learning magic and using a sword, etc, etc.

But also, him having already lived the upside down. Steve being summon shortly after the events of the fourth season (just without eddie dying), with the experience of fighting monsters, the survival mode still in his system, with the fear that the monsters of this other world could came to his own through glowing magic circles just like he did.

Because of that, after the princess and the saint had promised him that he could go back to his own world, to his home, his friends (his family), at the shortest time possible after he got summon, didn't matter how much time he spend in this other world. He decides— like the self-sacrifice idiot with a hero complex that he is— that he would help.

Clue Steve living a whole isekai for almost a decade just to come back after a week had passed in his original world.

Of course The Party would have noticed Steve's missing, the Gates are still open, the whole town split apart, monsters hadn't started to appear but is only time until they do, so of course they are high alert and notice when one of them just go radio silent.

Nobody knows where he is, what happened to him, if he's still alive. And since the whole town is a mess they can't exactly do a search for a misssing person.

And just like he disappeared, he reappears one week later, Hopper founding him drinking beer in the only still open bar of town with more scars than before, carrying a sword in his waist and with all the powers and cofidence he gained in the magical world intact.

Now if Vecna decides to make his come back, he would stand no chance against the rage of a superpowered teenage girl, a rag tag group of teenagers, four tired adults and a returned hero with almost a decade of experience fighting beings more powerful than he.

when the world stops turning (my heart stops beating) - pt. 4

hello yes i know it's been a while. this part has been a pain in my ass for months. i needed to get it just right and rewrote this thing so many times it's not even funny. and now, after editing it five times over the last two days, i'm just posting it. what's done is done. if i came back to it again i would have rewritten and i don't wanna do that. so here it is at least. there is also going to be at least one more part. i'm shooting for two more hopefully but i make no promises. the next part could very well be the last. i hope you enjoy :)

ao3 pt 1 pt 2 pt 3 pt 4

cw: hospitals, dissociation, mentions of overdose, addiction, sobriety, and relapse

Eddie couldn’t move. His body was fighting against every instinct he should have in the moment. Someone could throw something directly at his head, and he wouldn’t react. The buzzing voices around him faded in and out as he stared at a chip in the wood of the table in front of him.

One of Steve’s doctors had finally come to speak with them. They couldn’t say anything for certain at the moment, but he was alive, and that’s all Eddie heard before his head went fuzzy again. His mind was still reeling, caught on the fact that he should have seen this. He should have noticed. He should have been able to help Steve. He failed the only person who’d ever loved him like that, the only one who ever would love Eddie like that. Because Steve was it for him. He’d always known that. No one else would even come close. No one could ever compare to Steve Harrington.

Not only had he failed Steve, but he’d failed Robin too. He was supposed to keep Steve safe. Robin couldn’t lose her best friend; Eddie knew that. He’d promised to take care of him. He couldn’t even do that one thing right. God, what was he going to tell Robin?

They didn’t want Steve to have visitors yet. Eddie managed to gather that much at least. It was still touch and go. He wasn’t awake. They weren’t sure if he ever would be. They’re flushing his system, but it’s really just a game of wait and see. They might be able to see him in the morning, but the doctor wasn’t making any promises. It all depended on how the rest of the night went. If he made it through. They couldn’t say anything else for certain. There had been a lot of drugs in his system. He’d been deprived of oxygen for a long time. There was no way to be sure what would happen next. That was all up to Steve now.

Eddie sat there in that uncomfortable waiting room chair for hours. He didn’t move. He didn’t eat or drink. He didn’t even get up to go to the bathroom. He just sat there, staring at the same chip in the wooden table. His friends all tried their best to get through to him. They tried to coax him into eating or drinking something, but their efforts were unsuccessful. No one could get through to him, and he preferred it that way. He deserved to sit in his own silence, letting his brain run reckless and spiral to the depths of his fears and anxiety. He had failed.

He noticed that the more time seemed to pass, the antsier his bandmates got. Though, he couldn’t be exactly sure that’s what was happening. Time escaped him.

Time was such a funny thing, wasn’t it? It can feel like it speeds up, slows down, or stops entirely, but it never changes. It’s always the same. It’s all in the imagination. Eddie was never that good at telling time as a child. Even as he grew older, he found it difficult to keep track. As he sat in that hospital, his entire life on the brink of falling apart at the seams, time was nowhere to be found. Nothing made sense. He just sat silently, staring. People moved around him, time passed, but Eddie didn’t move. He was trapped. His body was at the hospital, but his mind kept bouncing around. From his mom, to Wayne, to Steve on the bathroom floor. An endless cycle. Eddie was hanging on by a single thread: the only thread of life left in Steve.

Eddie would never survive if Steve didn’t make it out alive.

Eddie was aware that a long time had passed only by the ache in his joints and the dryness of his mouth. He also sort of needed to pee, but that wasn’t important. At least, not important enough to warrant getting up. He couldn't move. He needed to stay right in that spot. Nothing was more important than that.

“Come on, Ed,” Wayne’s gruff voice said from somewhere behind him. Eddie stayed rooted to the spot. “It’s time to go, kid. We’ve gotta get to the reception.”

Eddie stood silently, staring straight ahead at the marble headstone. His mother’s name was engraved with curly letters. Eddie hadn’t known that was possible. There were piles of flowers that he knew wouldn’t be there next week. He didn’t speak. His feet were glued to the soft ground beneath him. His suit was itchy and his worn dress shoes were a size too small. The tie around his neck was suffocating. He couldn’t breathe.

He broke down right there, tears rolling down his cheeks and gasping sobs bursting from his chest. He sank down to the ground at the foot of his mother’s fresh grave, clawing at the stupid red tie that his mother had bought him two years prior and the collar of his white dress shirt. Wayne sighed softly and sat down beside him, gently pulling his hands away and shushing Eddie as he loosened the tie. He let him collapse against his chest, tie almost completely off and the first two buttons of his shirt undone. Wayne held him through each wracking sob and stuttering breath, murmuring comfort until he’d gotten it all out.

“I couldn’t do it, Uncle Wayne,” Eddie whispered hoarsely. “Why couldn’t I do it?”

“Do what, Ed?”

“Save her.”

Why couldn't he do it?

“Eddie, seriously, you need to eat something,” Jeff said, holding out a bag of chips from the vending machine. Eddie stared blankly at the bag, seeing but not really. He heard the words coming from Jeff’s mouth, but his body refused to respond. He couldn’t quite fully process what he was saying. It slipped out of his head before he got the chance, replaced with his mother’s voice, or Steve promising he was fine. He was fine. There was nothing wrong. It was just weed. Nothing more. He was fine.

He lied.

What else had Steve lied about? What else was he keeping from Eddie? Every time Steve came home late, claiming some generic excuse about work or traffic or whatever else it may have been, how often had those been lies? What had he been doing instead? Getting high? Shooting up in a parking garage somewhere? Was he ever with someone else? Someone who wasn’t Eddie?

Steve would never cheat. Eddie had to remind himself of that over and over again. Repeat it on a loop in his head. Anything to get it to stay there.

He would not cheat. He would not cheat. He would not cheat.

But he would lie.

Eddie has never been insecure about their relationship before. He loved Steve more than anything. He always knew Steve felt the same. Steve loved him. No questions asked. Eddie knew. He didn't need to be told that Steve loved him. It was just obvious. Now, though, Eddie was second guessing everything. Why would he lie? If Steve could lie so easily about something like this, what else had he lied about? Had their whole relationship been a lie? Has Steve ever told him the truth about anything?

His brain swirled with more thoughts, more insecurities. He stared at the chip in the table as he spiraled. His fingers and toes were tingling. This couldn’t be real. It had to be a dream, a nightmare. Any minute now, he was going to wake up. Everything would be fine. It was just one big nightmare. He would be laying in bed next to Steve, who would be snoring softly. He would roll over and tuck his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. He could hold him tight, bury his nose in the back of Steve’s neck and breathe in the scent of his shampoo. He could fall back into a peaceful sleep with Steve in his arms, safe and sound.

Except he wasn't waking up. No matter how much he tried, no matter how hard he willed his eyes to open, it didn't happen. He was trapped. There was no escape. Steve wasn't there. He may never be there again. This was all Eddie’s fault. If only he’d noticed. If only he cared enough. None of it was enough. Eddie wasn’t enough. He never should have expected to be enough for Steve. Steve deserved better.

Eddie never should have asked him to come on tour with them.

If Eddie hadn’t asked him to go, this never would have happened. Steve would be at home, in their apartment with Robin, probably sleeping in her room every night. He hated sleeping alone. He’d be sitting on the couch, wrapped up in one of Eddie’s hoodies and the threadbare blue blanket they took from the trailer when they moved, watching movies with Robin and a bowl of popcorn. He wouldn’t be dying in a hospital in New York. He’d be happy and safe. Eddie would miss him like hell, but at least he would be safe.

The sun was shining, blindingly bright, through the tall windows on the far wall of the waiting room when the doctor finally came back. Eddie’s knee had taken to bouncing anxiously a while ago, maybe an hour, maybe more. He can’t be sure. His brain had mostly come back online, but he still felt a little foggy. Untethered. His world was unbalanced. His ears were still ringing even as the doctor started talking. He barely heard a single word. Snippets of information filtered through the fog. Stable. Made it through the night. Up to Steve now. ICU. Visitors. The next thing he knows, Jeff is leading him through the halls with the doctor. It’s just the three of them. Other doctors and nurses bustled around them.

They finally crossed the double doors into the ICU. Eddie’s heart pounded as the doctor led them over to one of the sliding doors. She opened it, and Eddie couldn't move. He could hear the machines inside, see the edge of the hospital bed. If he turned his head a little, he knew he would see Steve. The doctor walked in and picked up the chart at the foot of the bed. She flipped it open and clicked her pen, writing things down and glancing at monitors.

“Eddie, why don't we go inside?” Jeff suggested softly, his hand on Eddie’s arm. “Steve needs you right now.”

Eddie's feet moved of their own accord, taking slow steps into the room. Jeff followed behind him, closing the door once they were both in the room. He carefully led Eddie over to the chair, giving him a light push on the shoulder to sit him down. As soon as he was close enough, Eddie grabbed Steve’s hand. An instinct he would probably always have. It didn't matter what was going on in his brain. If Steve’s hand was there, Eddie was holding it.

“Is he okay?” the doctor asked gently, nodding to Eddie.

Jeff sighed. “I hope so. This is all really hard on him.”

“How long have they been together?”

Jeff looked up, a little startled. It may have been New York, and queer relationships were a little more accepted than they were just a few years ago, but Steve and Eddie had always been careful. Cautious. They all had. But she was quick to respond before Jeff could even think to redirect.

“It’s okay, really. I know what love looks like. I would look at my partner the same way if something like this ever happened to her.”

“Oh.” Jeff glanced at Eddie, who had his eyes glued to Steve’s hand in his. “Um… it’s been almost eight years now. They’ve been through a lot together.”

She closed the chart and put it back at the end of the bed. She nodded a few times, watching the machines that beeped rhythmically. “I’m going to hold on to hope,” she said softly. “For them. For everyone like us. I can’t say anything for certain; this is all up to Steve. We’re doing everything we can. But I’m holding on to hope.”

“I guess that’s all any of us can do now, isn’t it?”

“I think so.” She cleared her throat and took a step back from the bed, turning to Jeff. “I have other patients to round on, but I’ll be back to check up on everything in a couple of hours. If you guys need anything, just let one of the nurses know.”

“Thank you.”

Silence fell through the room as the doctor left. Jeff took the chair in the corner, letting Eddie have whatever time he needed. He was mostly there for Eddie’s sake; someone had to make sure he would be okay until Wayne got there. Truthfully, they were all out of their depths here. No one really understood what was happening in Eddie’s brain. Not even close to the way Wayne would.

They sat there in total silence for a long time. It's unclear to Eddie just how long, but long enough that Jeff had gotten up four times. Once to get food, once for the bathroom, and twice to hit vending machines and coffee. Not that Eddie accepted anything Jeff offered him. His body still felt wildly disconnected from his brain. His limbs were heavy. He also knows it's been long enough that nurses have come in to check on Steve eight times, and his doctor has been back once. It seems the only thing Eddie’s mind can keep track of is how many times someone has entered or exited Steve’s room in the ICU.

Jeff gets up for a fifth time. Another bathroom break, from the few words Eddie managed to retain. The door slid shut behind him, and Eddie was alone again. He squeezed Steve’s hand three times, desperate for any sign that he's still there. That he's fighting for Eddie. Nothing happens. The machines beep. His chest rises and falls rhythmically with the calculated breaths of the ventilator. Steve’s eyes shift beneath his eyelids, but they don't open. They won't open. The door slid open again, and Eddie assumed Jeff was back, though it seemed like he wasn't gone very long. And then he hears it.

“Oh, God.”

Eddie’s head shot up at the sound of Robin’s shaky voice behind him. She looked wrecked. Her face was blotchy, her eyes puffy and red. There were tear tracks down her cheeks. Wayne was standing beside her, looking somber. He watched her take a rattled breath, crossing the room slowly. Her eyes don't leave Steve. Wayne followed a few moments later, coming to stand behind Eddie and put a hand on his shoulder. Eddie wanted to break. As if he hadn't been slowly breaking this whole time.

“They- they said it was an overdose?” Robin asked softly, her voice cracking at the end. Eddie merely nodded, still trying to find his voice. “What- what happened, Eddie? Was it- was he drugged? How- how did this- did he relapse?”

“Relapse?” Eddie croaked, his voice hoarse from disuse. That didn't make any sense. For Steve to relapse, he would have to be…. “He- he was clean?”

Robin frowned, and her gaze finally found Eddie. “What do you mean he was clean? He's been clean since ‘85, Eddie. I- I helped him, after Starcourt.”

All the air left Eddie’s lungs in an instant. This was all his fault. Steve was- he was clean. Sober. And Eddie ruined that. He gave Steve weed. He brought him on tour. He took him to parties full of temptation. He killed Steve.

“This is all my fault,” he whispered.

“Eddie, you have to tell me what's going on,” Robin begged. “When did he relapse? Why didn't he call me? He promised he would talk to me if he wanted to get high again.”

“I- Oh, God. I didn't know. He- he didn't tell me.” Eddie couldn't breathe. His heart squeezed in his chest, and his lungs pushed the air from his body until there was nothing left. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't get it back. He was already hyperventilating. “This is all my fault. Oh my god, it's all my fault.” He was distantly aware of the tears rolling down his cheeks again.

Wayne stepped between Eddie and Robin, crouching down to look up into his nephew's face. His hands were solid against Eddie’s skin, just like they always were. “Ed, you need to talk to me. Take a breath, kid. I'm right here, but you have to tell me what's going on.”

Eddie’s breath stuttered halfway through his chest. “I didn't know, Wayne.”

“What didn't you know, Eddie?”

“I didn't- I didn't know he was sober. I- I thought I- I was just trying to help. I- I gave him weed. I did this.”

Robin’s expression hardened. “You did this to him?”

“I'm so sorry,” Eddie choked out between sobs. “I didn't- I didn't know. I was just trying to help. And- and then he- I knew he wasn't telling me something, but- but he promised it was just weed.”

“Get out.” Robin’s voice was firm, but he could hear the trembling fear behind it.

“What? I-”

“Get out. Get out, right now. You did this, Eddie. He was doing so good until he met you! And now he's dying! So get the hell out, before I make you!"

It was at this moment that the door opened for Jeff’s return. He paused just inside the doorway. Wayne stood up, facing Robin.

“Now, Robin, I think-”

“I don't care!” Robin’s hands were shaking. “This is his fault! I want him out, right now! Or I swear to God, Wayne, I'm going to kill him.”

Wayne glanced back at Jeff, who was the perfect picture of confusion. “Jeff, take Eddie into the hall.”

“What-”

“Don't ask questions right now,” Wayne said sternly with a shake of his head. “Just take him to the hall. I'll be out in a moment.”

As soon as the door shut behind them, and Jeff had led Eddie a little ways from the room, he finally snapped. His knees gave out from underneath him, and Jeff was the only thing holding him up as he sobbed.

This was all his fault. He killed Steve.

First his mom, now the love of his life. It was all his fault.

-----

taglist: @mugloversonly @djohawke @acowardinmordor @hallucinatedjosten @geekyfifi @slowandsteddie @estrellami-1 @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @canmargesimpson @captainoliimar @ilikeititspretty

I love only child Steve Harrington, but how about I suggest something else that's really angsty? Stay with me here, please.

CW Ahead: Death of a Sibling, Grief/Mourning, Minor Suicidal Ideation, Steve's Sacrifices to Prove Self-Worth

Steve Harrington had a twin. They were identical.

They'd chase each other around in the Indiana sun, when it was at its lowest, grass green in the field, lightning bugs about. Barefoot in the backroads, dust particles, laughing until their stomachs hurt. Riding their bikes up and down their street, seeing who could go faster. Swimming laps in the pool, trying to beat the other.

Their parents are happy. A good marriage. Lovely kids. Living that smooth, good life.

Both of them super young when it happens. He and his twin are roughly...12? 13? Middle school age.

It's another summer night. No school. Not a care in the world. The Harrington family go out of town for a lake house vacation. Steve and his twin swim laps and laps around in the lake.

They've got beach toys, playing in the very little amount of sand. Then, Steve accidentally drops his little plastic shovel into the water. It sinks, or at least begins sinking. His twin tells him to stay out of the water, that he'd go down and retrieve the shovel. His twin had the better swimmer's lungs after all.

But then thirty seconds pass. Forty-five...a whole minute.

Bubbles come to the surface. The water rippling like somebody's thrashing. And then...nothing.

Of course, Steve runs up to the lake house to get his parents. To get help. But he was too late. He couldn't save his brother.

After this, he can't even look himself in the eyes. Can't look into a mirror. After this, his parents grow distant from him. They leave more and more frequently, leave him alone in his guilt. Affairs and arguments...it all happens too frequently now. Steve keeps to himself. He's quiet and weird. Barely has any friends. Won't talk about that summer evening. Won't consider going around a lake again.

But...but then he goes to high school. He tries out for the swim team, just to give himself something to do. It made his dad pay attention to him. It made his parents stay. It made a small part of him proud, when he did good at his meets, when he was eventually given the co-captain spot. He worked as a lifeguard over the summers.

Barb goes missing from his backyard. He isn't aware that she was dragged through the pool. Didn't see it, never knew.

Nancy lives with the same sort of guilt that Steve did. But Steve only knows one way of coping: moving on. Busying his brain with stupid things: drinking and partying and sports and other things that seem meaningless. He seems fine, doesn't he? It's not like he's weighed any of the shit he's been through.

(He is. He won't tell anybody this.)

Dustin asks for his help that one day, the same age as Steve's twin brother was—will forever be. And Steve knows, even if he accepts reluctantly at first, that this is his duty. It's what's going to prove that he can care, that he isn't fucked up over this thing that happened, that he can do better.

Helping where he can, that's what makes him proud. Being somebody to step in, to throw themselves at the danger rather than letting anybody else experience it.

And then Lover's Lake.

He hasn't been out on a lake, not even dipping his toes in the water since the incident. But when it comes down to it, to the group he's sitting on that rickety boat with, he knows he must. He must prove that he can help, that he can swim best, that he can use his skills for good; rather than sitting by, almost uselessly.

He's being dragged back under the surface, something wrapped around his ankle. He's panicking, of course he's panicking—there's questions and broken sentences flashing through his brain: did this happen to him? is this what he felt like? am I going to die like this, too?

For half a moment, he expects to die. He's ready to die. Like maybe dying will break him free from the guilt he's been carrying. Like a cycle will be reset.

He's relieved when he doesn't drown.

Yet, when that demobat releases his throat and he can get enough oxygen to focus on his surroundings, he sees all the others around him in the Upside Down. And he's furious. Furious that they had to go after him, to save his sorry ass. Because, again, he's put himself in a position of complete uselessness.

Always the one needing help, needing to be saved.

He'd rather do it alone. Rather be the bait, the hook line and sinker.

And when the fight is over, when Dustin loses Eddie...

Steve sees himself in Dustin's eyes. Helpless, scared, vengeful—

Guilty.

He considers his new duty to be to actually help Dustin's guilt. To try and make it better. But he's fucking it up, he constantly fucks it up. Just like he did with Nancy. He still can't look himself in the eyes.

Not without seeing his brother's face. Not without seeing scars where he failed to fully protect. Not without seeing Dustin's guilty, angry gaze. Not without seeing himself.

And somewhere along the lines, he knew his self-worth was low. But it's even lower. Like it was when he lost his brother; it shouldn't have been his brother. It shouldn't have been Eddie. It should've been him.

But he doesn't tell anybody this revelation he has. He continues on, life normal, trying to be helpful where he can. No matter how little, no matter how much he must sacrifice.

————

Another version here:

Dustin is guilty because Eddie got so injured, but Eddie's saved by Steve. Steve makes it his only mission in that moment to resuscitate Eddie—he learned CPR after his brother died just in case, he's thankful for his anxious self-nagging.

But Dustin is still guilty and Steve still sees himself.

And Eddie's trying to reassure both of them, but nothing seems to get through. He's the only one who can really see through Steve's cracks, he ends up not liking what he's seeing. Under the surface, Steve is just hollow. Not hollow like he's dumb or boring or unimportant. Hollow like there's nothing keeping him tethered, nothing fulfilling him, nothing to keep him satiated and happy.

Under the surface, Eddie sees a version of a man he doesn't really know. He sees Steve constantly fighting a mental battle, some sort of self-worth argument, some prattle with his own thoughts. He sees a man barely living; he sees a man willing to die for anything.

Again, he ends up not liking what he's seeing.

u guys like holy shit steve harrington woah

Steve will solve a rubix cube in front of the kids, set it down in front of them, and then say: "Did you know I'm colorblind?"

He'll walk out, leaving them trying to figure out if he's fucking with them or not. He is. He may not be color blind but he's definitely deaf in one ear. He'll also occasionally drop some shocking information about his family every once in a while and then not explain just to keep the kids busy thinking about it. He'll also accidentally give them puzzles to solve, he's a lot smarter than he thinks he is.

Corroded Coffin are celebrating an album release in Vegas. Eddie gets bored of the VIP area at the club & wanders The Strip. Standing at the Bellagio fountain is the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. Eddie pushes past some douchey looking dudes in business casual to reach him.

Eddie falls to one knee. “Will you marry me?” Steve who is bored with his business man life and hates his friends takes one look at this random proposing man with wild hair and leather pants and says “Yes.”

Sometimes i think about the weird crossover i have stored in the back of my mind of Stranger Things, Lucifer, The Good Place, Brooklyn 99 & Community.

Just a big amalgamation of my favorite shows toguether.

It started with Stranger Things with Lucifer and then i just started to put more and more things.

Anyways, i love Stranger Things crossovers that still have the Upside Down.

Sept Stobin Extravaganza Day 12: Codependent

Rated T | @sept-stobin-extravaganza | 2,183 Words (it's a long'un) | A lot of this story is inspired by this post and some of it's comments/reblogs/etc

The kids hadn’t noticed how close Steve and Robin were at first after Starcourt. Sure, the two were glued together constantly, but Dustin was fairly certain they were dating, and couples spent a lot of time together, right?

And he thought he was being proven correct in his assumptions about their relationship status when he headed over to Steve’s one Saturday in October. He didn’t bother knocking on the front door, just headed straight inside. “Steve?” he called out.

He didn’t hear a response, but he had seen the BMW in the driveway, so he took a look around. The ground floor was empty, and he didn’t see Steve in the backyard, so he headed upstairs. Once he reached the landing, he heard water running from the direction of Steve’s bedroom and ensuite. Honestly, maybe Dustin should have knocked or waited for Steve to come out, but he and his friends didn’t have a lot of boundaries, and also, Steve was like his big brother, so he didn’t think before opening the bathroom door a little (he didn’t look! He knew better than that!) and calling in.

“Steve! I need a ride! Hurry up your shower!” Dustin said.

The voice he heard back was… decidedly not Steve. “What the hell, mini-dingus?” Robin’s voice replied. He heard the curtain rustle, so he peeked his head around the door and met her eyes.

Her hair was all soapy, and she had the most disgruntled look on her face.

“I’m sorry!” he yelped.

Steve’s head popped up over top Robin’s in the gap. “Dude, just go wait in the living room. I’ll be down in, like, twenty, and I can give you a ride then.”

Dustin nodded frantically and hurried out of the room and downstairs.

He waited twenty-two minutes exactly (he kept checking his watch) while wearing a hole in the living room rug before Steve came downstairs, dried and dressed, followed closely behind by Robin.

“I thought you weren’t dating!” Dustin accused them.

Steve had the audacity to look fed up with Dustin. “We’re not.”

Dustin sputtered for a second before saying, “Then what were you doing showering together?”

Both of them just shrugged and didn’t answer his question. And they kept not, for the entire ride to the arcade, where he met up with the others.

Of course, when Dustin told the rest of the Party, none of them took it as seriously as he thought they should.

“So what?” Lucas said. “They’re dating but saying they’re not. What’s it matter?”

“What’s it matter?!” Dustin said, flabbergasted.

Of course, they didn’t realize that wasn’t the end of Steve and Robin being a lot. There were all sorts of things that they started to notice that indicated something more.

Like, one day Mike went into the Family Video to rent a movie to watch that weekend, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. However, when he went to check out, he saw Robin was wearing Steve’s name-tag. He didn’t say anything about it to her, but a couple days later, Dustin brought it up at lunch.

“I went to get a movie after school yesterday, and I get there, and Steve’s wearing Robin’s name-tag!” he told them.

“Yeah, I saw Robin wearing his name-tag on Saturday,” Mike replied.

“Really?” Dustin asked. “I asked Steve why, and he said Robin was sick. Like, I get it; he’s covering her shift or whatever, but why is he wearing her name-tag?”

“Was Steve sick on Saturday?” Lucas asked, thoughtfully.

Dustin thought it over for a minute. “I think so? When I called his house, Robin answered the phone and said something about him having a stomach bug.”

“Hm,” was all Lucas said in response.

Another time, when Lucas called Steve’s house, Robin was the one to answer again.

“Hey, Robin,” he said. “I was calling to ask Steve a question.”

She didn’t even pause before saying, “Sure, what’s up?”

“Um… Well, I wanted to know if he’d help me practice for basketball tryouts, but if he’s not free, I can call back.”

Robin hummed in thought for a moment. “He’ll be by to pick up up on Saturday just after lunch. Like 2-ish. Does that work for you?”

“I… guess?” he told her. “Are you sure that’s fine with him?”

“Yep!” she said, popping the P.

The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments too long. “Okay, bye,” he said quickly and hung up the phone.

Well, Steve showed up at 2PM on the dot Saturday, so Lucas just rolled with it. His mom agreed to stuff for his dad all the time, so this must’ve just been like that.

Now, Max wasn’t around Steve and Robin as much as the boys so she hadn’t been having as many weird experiences as they were, but she definitely had one that stuck out so much that she broke her month-long avoidance to tell them.

It happened when she’d been about to skate home from school and she passed Steve’s car in the parking lot. He raised one hand to her as she approached, Robin at his side.

Max just gave him a tight smile, so Steve let her be and turned back to Robin.

But when he did, Robin just opened her mouth, and he reached in and pulled out her gum and stuck it in his own mouth. What the actual fuck?

Max just straight-up stopped and did a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn and headed back to the entrance of the school where she waited for the boys to come out.

“Max!” Dustin cheered upon seeing her. “What’s up?”

“Have they been super weird around you guys too?” she asked them.

“Who?” Mike asked, brows furrowed.

“Steve and Robin.”

Lucas looked at her carefully. “What’d they do now?”

She paused before telling him. “I just saw Steve pull gum out of Robin’s mouth and put it in his own to chew.”

All three boys chorused, “Ew!”

“Why?” Dustin cried out.

Lucas told her, “We’ve been keeping track. They’ve been insanely weird lately. Dustin thought they were just dating, but this goes way beyond that.”

“Yeah,” Mike chimed in. “Like, we’re not sure if it’s a new thing or if they’ve been like this the whole time, and we just didn’t notice.”

Max hummed, “Hm. Keep me looped in. I wanna know what’s up too.”

Lucas gave her a bright smile. “Sure!”

And the boys did. Every couple days, Max joined them at lunch to compare notes of whatever weirdness Steve and Robin had gotten up to lately. Most of the discoveries were from Dustin, who saw Steve way more than the rest of them, but they all had something. So far, they’d discovered that the two would only ever eat sharing a plate, Robin seemingly never left Steve’s house, and they apparently shared a toothbrush (they all found that one even nastier than the gum thing). One time, Dustin even got traumatized walking in on Steve shirtless with Robin popping a huge pimple on his back.

A few weeks after the gum incident, the four kids were gathered in Steve’s living room for a movie night. It’d been a while since they’d all hung out together outside of school, and technically they still weren’t. The absence of two of their Party members was sorely felt.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dustin saw Steve watch them mope for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and suggesting, “Okay, you know what, why don’t you guys call Will? I’m sure he misses you.”

“Really?” Mike asked, incredulously.

“Yes, really, Mike. It’s not like I pay the phone bill. I’m sure my parents can afford the long distance charge,” he informed the boys.

Then it was a scramble as the three hurried to the phone. Max hung back, though.

“Don’t want to talk to Will?” Robin asked her.

“No,” she told her. “If I could, I’d talk to El, but you know she can’t come on the phone.”

Robin sighed. “Yeah. That sucks, kiddo. Want to get your nails painted while we wait? I did ours earlier.” She patted the cushion next where they were practically glued together on the couch.

Max thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Sure,” she agreed and sat on the couch. “Wait.” She went back over what Robin said. “Our nails?”

“Oh yeah!” Steve said cheerfully. “Robs painted our toes earlier.” He wiggled them on the rug, and they were indeed painted; they were even in the same shade as Robin’s toes.

“Yeah! We don’t like polish on our hands, so toes only!” she said. “But I can paint your fingers.”

“… Okay.” Max picked a color from the bag Steve offered her and sat patiently while Robin painted, Steve holding the bottle for her.

When Robin had finished the first coat, she capped the bottle and said to Max, “I need to take a pee break! Let that dry, and we’ll finish it when we get back.”

Max raised an eyebrow at her. “Where’s Steve going?” she asked, since Steve got up too.

“… The bathroom?” he said, confused.

“Together?” Max asked them.

Robin just shrugged, and the two headed into the guest bathroom off the living room.

Whatever. If the two wanted to sneak off to make-out and lie very obviously about it, she wasn’t going to say anything.

Eventually, after her second coat was dried and the three of them had started watching TV, the boys came out of the kitchen, finished with their call to Will.

“How’s baby Byers?” Steve asked.

The boys told him all about what was going on in Will’s life, while Steve and Robin just nodded along and listened.

“Cool,” Robin said when they were all done. “Sounds like you had a good chat.”

“Mhm,” Steve added. “Now, what do you all want for dinner?”

All four of them looked at each other before saying in unison, “Pizza!”

Of course, getting all of them to agree on pizza toppings was a nightmare. It took almost 30 minutes of haggling with Steve over what he was willing to pay for. Mike only wanted pepperoni, Lucas didn’t really care but didn’t want too many ‘wet’ toppings, and Max wanted anything but pepperoni to be contrary to Mike.

“I want supreme,” Dustin told him.

“Okay, but no mushrooms. We’re allergic,” Steve told him.

Dustin stared at him for almost a full minute before saying slowly, “You’re not allergic to mushrooms, Steve. I’ve seen you eat them at my house before.”

“Well, Robin’s allergic,” he said matter-of-factly with his hands on his hips. “So no mushrooms.”

“Robin can just have a different pizza, Steve! The mushrooms are important to the balance of the supreme pizza. Without them, both the taste and texture are altered.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s either no mushrooms or no supreme pizza, Henderson. You’re the only one who wanted it, and I’m not about to order a specialty pizza just for you.”

“But-!”

“Nuh-uh. Those are your two options,” he said firmly.

Dustin rolled his eyes so hard they almost rolled out of his head. “Fine. No mushrooms. God!”

When he stomped back over to the Party, he complained to them about what just happened.

“So because Robin can’t eat mushrooms, he can’t either?” Max asked.

The four looked over to where the two were standing at the landline, Steve dialing to order the pizza.

“Maybe it’s a serious enough allergy that they can’t kiss if he’s eaten any?” Lucas suggested.

“Maybe,” Dustin conceded. “But you know, I’ve never seen them kiss… Like even once.”

The rest of the group thought over all the past interactions they’ve observed and agreed.

“They might not like PDA,” Mike said.

Max chimed in, “Maybe they’re really not dating. Maybe they’re just weird.”

“They were showering together,” Dustin said to her.

“True…” she conceded. “And I saw them go to the bathroom together earlier tonight. Pretty sure that was to have a secret make-out session,” Max added.

“Really?” Lucas asked her.

“Mhm.”

“They’re like my grandparents,” Lucas said to them all.

Mike frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Like, they’re so in-tune, as if they’d been together forever. But then sometimes they’re so weird it’s not like my grandparents at all,” he explained.

“Like with the name-tags thing?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah!”

“Who even knows with those two,” Max said. “Maybe they’re just trauma-bonded or whatever. And it messed them up along the way.”

“No way!” Dustin insisted. “Steve’s not like that.”

“Gum, Dustin,” she said. “I saw him pull it right out of her mouth.”

“Ew, yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

Mike added, “Too bad El’s not here. She’d be able to figure out whatever was going on.”

The group saw as Robin poked Steve in the chest as he was hanging up the phone, and Steve said, “That was right in the nipple!” and clutched his chest.

“Score!” she cheered, laughing. He started chuckling too, leaning in and resting his head on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Max agreed. “They’re too weird to figure out without superpowers.”