I has been an absolute pleasure working on this fic over the last few months and working with @alicetallula and talking about the art at he worked on it! I am so excited to have it completed and to share it! Featuring nonbinary Robin Buckley and Lesbian Chrissy Cunningham who doesn't know she's a lesbian.
Check out my fic and @alicetallula 's work on Ao3 (and their tumblr) for the Stranger Things Sapphic Mini Bang hosted by @sapphicstevents!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
AU where Eddie is a TA for a class at a college. Itâs not the first time heâs covering for his professor, but it is the first time that his lesson gets completely derailed by a guy that wonât stop asking questions.
Donât get Eddie wrong. This is a one hundred plus student lecture hall at 8am, itâs a miracle anyone is even awake much less asking questions, but - âSeriously?â
The guy puts his hand down, âMe?â
âYes, you!â Eddie exclaims, a chattering a snickers going around the room. âYouâve asked multiple questions for every slide of the PowerPoint.â
âOh, sorry,â The - admittedly good looking - guy replies sarcastically. âI was under the impression that you were a teacher that taught things.â
Eddie sighs and then asks, âDid you do the reading, MisterâŠâ
âHarrington,â He says. âSteve.â
âOkay, Steve. Did you do the reading?â
âNo.â
Turns out Steve isnât even in this class. He doesnât even go to this university. He was only there to take notes for Robin while she was sick with a cold.
Eddie is the fun parent and Steve is the strict one, sure. But letâs talk about the times Eddie gets mad.
Their kids would be throwing tantrums or being difficult for the sake of being difficult and Steve would try to deal with them. A teenage daughter getting frustrated because Steve wonât let her go to a party everybody is going to that weekend because theyâre supposed to visit grandpa Wayne back in Hawkins.
She tries to argue, to plead, but Steve keeps saying no. Itâs been three months since they paid Wayne a visit and itâs his freaking birthday so, no, she canât miss the trip and go to a party. And in the middle of their argument, their daughter screams âI HATE YOU!!â to Steve with such rage that Steve stops, stunned.
When he recovers from the shock, he just says, âHate me all you want, youâre still not going to that party,â then leaves their daughterâs room.
Five minutes later Eddie comes in and closes the door quietly behind him. Their daughter is about to snap at him too, but she closes her mouth when she sees her Papaâs dead serious expression. He crosses the room and stops right before the bed, where their daughter is sitting, and looks her straight in the eye.
âListen here, darling, youâre gonna put on the best regretful face you can, apologize to your father and youâre gonna mean it. Do you understand?â
âButââ
âNah, ah. I don't think you're understanding. This is not a discussion, so I'm gonna say it again. You're gonna go downstairs right now, you're gonna apologize to your father and you're gonna mean it. Do. You. Understand?â
âYes, Papa.â
âGood. Youâre also grounded for however long Iâm still pissed. So, if I were you, Iâd be in my best behavior when we visit Wayne this weekend.â
(Nobody makes Eddieâs husband cry. Not even their own daughter.)
Steve fell off the social ladder (and apparently hit ever rung with his face) and Eddie spends a couple weeks watching him before going up to him and offers him a seat at his table because -
âWhat?â Steve asks. âIâm not being bullied. Are you okay?â
âY-yeah, you are?â Eddie blinks. He was expecting a no. Maybe a âget lost.â Was even hoping a little for a yes, not - âYouâre totally being bullied.â
âNo, Iâm not.â
âYou eat lunch alone,â Eddie points out. âYou - you donât sit with your friends anymore.â
âYeah, because Iâm not on the basketball team. Thatâs the table for the basketball team. Why would I sit there if Iâm not on the team?â
âEverybody is talking about you behind your back,â He says. Steve makes a so-so gesture. âTyler McIntosh pushed you into the lockers yesterday.â
âTommy has been pushing me into lockers since middle school,â Steve replies. âNext youâre going to say that Tommy is a bully.â
Preserving @morganbritton132's tags: #Steve would not realize he was being bullied and I stand by that#he literally does not give a shit whatâs happening in the high school social sphere#monsters exist#Eddieâs been watching Steve like: I need to rescue this poor defenseless little bird#while Steveâs just been : *elevator music*
Steve not realizing he is being bullied and Eddie spelling it out for him only for Steve to then be like "Oh shit... I wasn't just a dick, I was like... a bully. That's- that's not just boys being boys?"
The realization comes like a ceramic plate to the head. Tommy and other's know they're being mean and cruel and Steve was just totally oblivious to what those behaviors actually are. When he realizes it he goes on some type of apology tour starting with Eddie and asks Eddie to teach him what else is legit bullying and not just goofin. He quickly becomes mortified at his past behavior.
He stopped being friends with Tommy cause the things that seemed to matter before didn't anymore with the existence of monsters but now he's even more glad to have split cause damn, Steve really was a piece of shit.
âMmm, no, I think I want it moved slightly up.â
âJesus christ, dude!â Gareth yelled from across the tattoo shop. âYouâve made Eddie move your stencil like eight times! Just fucking get the tattoo or leave already! Youâre wasting everyoneâs time!â
âGareth? Shut the fuck up. Respectfully. This is going on him permanently, I donât care if he makes me move the stencil fifty times, no shut up, I really donât care if I gotta move it that many times as long as he ends up happy with the result. Okay, dude? You donât get a canvas like this every day, I wouldnât dare sully it with less than his ideal tattoo.â
âThank you,â Steve said, âfor defending my honor. And for the complement?â
âIt was. Not hitting on you or anything, but you are drop dead gorgeous and youâre going to be the best advertisement for my art that I could ever dream of.â
Steve smiled and bit his lip. âWhat if I wanted you to be hitting on me?â
âAfter the tattoo is done and the cash payment is settled, then I will hit on you every moment for the rest of our lives if you want me to. But for now, letâs get this stencil size and placement right, sweetheart.â
The whole video is a compilation of her trying to film her crafts while Steve and Eddie are off-camera having the worldâs dumbest conversations. Itâs like:
Robin, on camera: *crocheting a blanket*
Eddie: I havenât seen 12 Angry Men. What about that? Wanna do 12 Angry Men?
Steve: Not in one night. Jesus.
Robin, on camera: *making a mosaic*
Eddie: Whatâs it called when time is bisexual?
Steve: âŠBiweekly?
Eddie: Thatâs it. I get paid biweekly.
Robin: *restocking her bead cases*
Steve, walking into the room: - one to talk, you pissed in the sink.
Robin: What?!
Eddie: Not our sink.
Robin: *trying and failing to spin clay on a pottery wheel she bought*
Steve, loud: Dude, just talk. I get distracted by your hands and miss what youâre signing.
Eddie, also loud: Do. You. Want to. Door. Dash?
Steve:
Steve: Wow. Yelling at the hearing impaired? Thatâs so offensive.
Steve: Robbie, cancel him.
Robin, flat: Eddie, youâre cancelled. Trash duty for a month.
Eddie: A month!? You set me- *video cuts*
Robin, on camera: *trying to film a tutorial*
Eddie: Bisexual, huh? And you sleep with mostly women? Interesting.
Steve:
Steve: I can fuck your uncle if youâre concerned about it.
Robin: *opens her mouth to speak but Dumb and Dumber just walked into the room*
Dustin posts a video to his Tiktok account that starts with him looking directly at the camera and then at something off-screen. He says, âRepeat what you just said.â
âKid, you need to work on your listening skills,â Steve complains off-camera. âI said that one time, I kissed Eddie on the cheek but I didnât have my glasses on and it was actually Nancy.â
âRight, and you meant to kiss Eddie?â He asks slowly, getting a âyepâ in return. âWhy were you kissing Eddie?â
âI wasnât,â Steve replies. âI kissed Nancy.â
Dustin gives the camera an annoyed look and then rephrased, âWhy were you going to kiss Eddie?â
âIt was morning. I always give Eddie a good morning kiss.â
âOkayâŠâ Dustin sighs. âOkay, and youâre not dating because..?â
âWhy would Eddie want to date me? Be serious, Dustin.â
Dustin looks at the screen again and the words âEddie Munson, ask this man outâ flashes onto the screen.
Inspired by this post by @0nemorestranger Hopefully close enough to what you had in mind
Lost Media
Steve didnât realize heâd been humming along to anything until the music cut off suddenly and looped around to start over. The opening riff played for about three seconds before it cut off again.
âWait, whoâs humming?â The question came from one of Steveâs younger co-workers. A part-timer working his way through college. Steve couldnât remember his name.
âUh, that was me. Sorry,â he tacked on the apology as an afterthought.
âYou know that song?â the kid asked. He sounded like Dustin.
âItâs called Plane of Shadows. I think itâs a DnD reference,â Steve answered. âBandâs Corroded Coffin. Havenât heard them in years.â
That wasnât strictly true. Every once in a while, Steve would play the tape he still had. Think about that one summer heâd spent as an unpaid, unofficial roadie. Daydream about what could have happened if heâd known himself a little better back then.
Not too often. Steve wasnât that much of a loser.
The kid came over and plopped down in Robinâs empty chair. She was out sick today, getting over the flu Steve had picked up last week.
âIt is. A DnD reference, I mean,â the kid said. Steve probably needed a better thing to call him; he was probably Ericaâs age. âShit, one of my friends posted that clip to this metal bulletin board. We've been trying to identify it forever. How do you know it?â
âTheyâre from the same small town I am. We all went to highschool together.â Not that Steve had known their music in highschool. âI donât think they ended up with a record deal, but they did have an EP they used to sell at concerts. I can bring it tomorrow if you want.â
*********
Steve brought the tape, along with the souvenirs heâd saved from that summer. A couple of photocopied flyers. An ad clipped from a local Bloomington paper for a concert. A wristband from a bar that had marked him as too young to drink. Also his Walkman. Steve wasnât sure if kids still had cassette players now that CDs were everywhere.
âThis is so cool,â the kid - Brian, apparently - gushed when Steve handed him the shoebox heâd brought it all in at lunch. âIs it alright if I scan these? And can I borrow this tape? I want to digitize it and share the full song with the board.â
âYou can do that?â Steve really needed to learn more about computers. Just not from Dustin who couldnât teach anything without turning into a condescending asshole.
âYeah, just record from the Walkman like itâs a mic. Iâll burn you a copy of the whole EP. That way you wonât have to worry about wearing out your tape,â Brian offered. âI would never have guessed you were such a metal fan.â
âIâm not, really,â Steve admitted. Brian blinked at him, surprised. And, well, it wasnât the eighties anymore, and they werenât still living in Hawkins. âMassive crush on the lead guitarist.â
âOh, uh, thanks for telling me.â Brian leaned over and patted Steveâs shoulder. âSo you and Robin arenât-â
âStrictly platonic.â Maybe Robin was right and they should get signs for their desks.
*********
It was nearly a month later when Brian grabbed Steve at the water cooler and dragged him over to his desk, saying âYouâve got to see this.â
This was a post on the Brianâs metal bulletin board:
Crazy to hear from a buddy that our old band is a minor Internet sensation. Thanks, all. If you guys had been around back in the day we might have managed a full album. Or maybe not. Garethâs parents would have killed him if he dropped out and Jeff actually wanted to go to college, so maybe we still would have broken up in â87. Regardless, weâre all thrilled our music is bringing joy to todayâs metal heads.
As the primary songwriter, and with the agreement of the rest of the band, I grant permission to upload and download the entire EP. We think any money we might potentially have made on it is worth less to us than the value of preserving what could have been lost media. Just make sure to credit us if your garage band turns one of our songs into a hit.
Anyway, if you guys have any questions about Corroded Coffin, or the songs, reply to this post and Iâll do my best to answer in a timely fashion.
Aside to OP: Is your preppy co-worker who had all our stuff a handsome former jock with spectacular hair? Because Iâd love to get back in touch with our old roadie.
-EM
âOh my god,â Robin squealed, leaning over Steveâs shoulder as he read. âPlease, you have to give Eddie Steveâs email. Or get Eddieâs email to give to Steve. Or both. Both would be best. That way at least one of them will have the balls to reach out first.â
âEddieâs already reaching out,â Steve said. âAnd I thought you said it was anti-femminist to use testicles as a proxy for courage.â
âStop quoting me when Iâm being right, Steven.â
âSo I should get his contact info for you?â Brian asked.
Steve hesitated. Real life was not some romantic comedy where attraction was always mutual and true love overcame all obstacles in the end. But it wasnât like heâd spend the last decade pining. Even if it was nothing more than getting a friend back, it would be good to get in touch with Eddie again.
Okay hear me out, steddie gym AU (totally not based on my experience, nooo)
Eddie needs to start going to the gym because he needs PT A LOT and so he signs up to his local gym and starts going a few days a week.
He feels a little overwhelmed and anxious but he does a few exercises his doctor recommended and feels a bit better. Endorphins and all.
But then he spots this Greek God of a guy who bench presses more than Eddie weights. So of course his little gay heart forms a little crush.
And it would be all great, maybe a little extra motivation but the guy⊠well, Eddie thinks he hates him.
Heâs always staring at him and furrowing his eyebrows, sometimes he just looks him dead in the eye with the biggest frown and grimace. Eddie knows heâs not a real gym bro but hey, rude.
So he gets more and more anxious until he breaks and walks up to the guy.
The guyâs eyes widen when Eddie starts ranting about being mean and judging the new members of the gym. He calls him a bitch and full of himself and an Adonis and the guy gets more and more confused.
That is, until something clicks and he makes a little âahâ sound, uses his finger to tell Eddie to stop for a moment and retrieves his glasses. They are thick and make his eyes just a little bigger.
âHi, my nameâs Steve and I canât see for shit without those baddiesâ the Greek God - STEVE - blushes and rubs the back of his head.
âOhâ Eddie mutters, blushing himself.
âYeahâ Steve chuckles. âSorry for making you uncomfortable, I literally canât see anything so I just zone outâ he explains, pointing to his glasses.
âShit, im sorryâ Eddie mutters, praying silently for the depths of hell to open up and swallow him right this second.
âWellâŠâ Steve trials off âIâm glad you did it. That way I could finally see you.â He winks, smiling a little.
And thatâs how Eddie gets himself a hot hot gym rat of a boyfriend
Max is the first one to find out Steve and Eddie are seeing each other, because of course she is.
She lives close to Eddie, and she is not dumb. Sheâs very aware of how often Steve visits the trailer park, how Eddie always seems to be hanging around Family Video when the Party goes there looking for something to watch on their weekly movie night. Max also has eyes and if you have eyes itâs impossible to miss the nauseatingly mushy looks those two are always sharing, smiles so fond thereâs no way whatever is happening there is purely platonic. Seriously, it would be disgusting if they werenât so sweet, not that Max is ever admitting that to their faces.
And since sheâs well aware somethingâs going on, itâs easy for her to find an opening to confirm her hypothesis. When she sees Steveâs car leaving the park, late at night, and in a night Wayne is definitely not there, Max crosses the few yards separating their trailers and knocks on Eddieâs door.
âRed?â he asks, confused when he sees Max there.
âSeriously, Eddie? Steve Harrington?â she asks back, crossing her arms as if daring him to deny it.
Eddie doesnât. âHave you seen him? How could I not?â
Rolling her eyes, and pretending not to feel as happy as she was for them, Max lets out a little sigh. âJust please donât break his heart, okay?â
Steve joining Hopper as a police officer and being perfect for the job.
That is, until Hopper sends Steve and Jameson, his partner, to deal with a call regarding a bar fight.
Because the bar is the same one Eddie and Corroded Coffin play every other night, the one he was actually playing that night, and when Steve finally gets there he finds his boyfriend with a bloodied nose and a split lip, black shirt torn on one shoulder. The rest of the band is in similar state and on the other side of the bar the owner is glaring and yelling at a bunch of guys; they too look pretty beaten up.
âWhat the hell happened to you?â Steve asks, alarmed, but his boyfriend just shrugs.
âGuys were being assholes, so I shut them up. No biggie.â
âEddie! You canât assault people like-â
âThey called Eddie a fag and one of them slapped Josyâs ass when she passed by their table,â Gareth interrupts.
And, like flipping a switch, Steves stops. His gaze falls over Gareth, laser focused.
âThey did what?â
âCalled Eddie a fag.â
Two hours later, Steve sits quietly on the chair in Hopperâs office, as the older man yaps at him about being stupid and doing things without thinking first. He gets his first written warning for bad conduct that night because, apparently, beating up the guys you were supposed to get statements from is not allowed, even if you beat them up to protect the honor of your loved ones.
When Steve was a kid, he would say âbye, love youâ to every girl he spoke to because thatâs what his dad said to his mom before he left for work. Itâs also what his dad would say to his secretary when he left work.
Steve causes that divorce. His mom, Liz, is furious, young, and cocky: she's liked around town, her husband *cheated* on her, and she's positive she'll take him to the cleaners. Alimony, child support, maybe even the house.
Except she doesn't have any proof that her husband cheated. Everything incriminating goes missing. And he's golfing buddies with both the judge and his lawyer, who is no longer speaking to her. (My wife's decided I'm having an affair because *get this* my kid keeps saying "I love you" to random women. Can you believe that? She's gone nuts!) She doesn't have her own money, and her husband removes all the money from the accounts she has access to before she thinks to pull anything out.
Liz can't afford a lawyer. She can't even afford a night at the terrible motel in town to get her and Steve out of the house for the night.
Suddenly she's on the other side of "my husband owns this town" and learning what that really means. She's never had a job; has no employment history, but the judge says she isn't owed alimony because Steve's old enough to be in school, so she can get a job instead of trying to mooch off her ex. He does award child support, but she thinks her husband and his accountant must have done something shady with the finances because it's a *pittance* and the judge doesn't question it.
She needs somewhere cheap to stay; she needs a job.
On the other side: Claudia Henderson *has* a job, but she also has a small child who's too young to be in school. She needs childcare and she's got a spare room. Liz answers the ad pinned up in Melveld's. The two of them start chatting, and Claudia can see how stressed, shocked, and disillusioned she is. Claudia's a soft touch, so they agree to trade childcare and help with cooking and chores for the spare room and what money Claudia can spare.
Liz takes the spare room because the boys are young and can share. And well. By the time Steve gets old enough that it makes sense to give him his own space, it also makes sense for Liz and Claudia to share a room.
steddie where steve throws a huge halloween costume party and eddie comes. steve doesn't recognize eddie in his costume, and proceeds to get so drunk that night that he rants to him about how he "has such a big crush on eddie munson but is too afraid to tell him."
Plot twist, Steve knew exactly who he was talking to but was using the alcohol and the costume as an excuse to say what he's wanted to say for a while. Pretending like it's not Eddie, or at least pretending he doesn't know makes it easier to admit.
(If this is after they're already friends to some extent) Eddie, who specifically told Steve about his extremely obscure and specific costume plans and who knows Steve isn't that blind or drunk is rendered speechless as Steve waxes poetic about the color of Eddie's eyes and how they light up when he talks about what he's passionate about and it's all he can do to play along and not grab Steve by the face and kiss him silly.
