Hi I'm Malikat22 your friendly local smut peddler over on ao3!
Shadows of the Night
Ten years after the battle to defeat Vecna, everyone has moved on except for Steve. He is tormented by the guilt of what they lost and the person he was forced to leave behind. Eddie haunts him, until it becomes an obsession. Until it becomes like he isn't really gone at all.
Read 1:13am
Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington are idiots, living their own individual oblivious lives. But there’s just something about that mystery guy Eddie hooked up with, and as for Steve? He’s got a new unknown suitor, courtesy of one misdialed phone number. Collab fic with ArbedsGhost!
All Tied Up With A Bow
Five times Steve Harrington gives someone a gift during the holiday season, and the one time Eddie Munson gives him one in return that means everything.
Christmas Lights
“Have you ever thought about tying someone up with lights and decorating them like a Christmas tree?” That’s all it took to get Steve Harrington out of his house and standing in an abandoned mall parking lot on Christmas Eve, waiting for a person he barely remembered.
SweetTart
Bastian: What I’m trying to say is, I like you, and I’d like to take you out. But you’re making it really hard to get a read on what your situation with this Steve guy is
Or, Eddie Munson has first date jitters and needs his roommate Steve to help him figure out how to relax
Pas de Deux
Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington were irrevocably bound by dance, shared family and a genuine, unexpected, happy accident of a friendship for which Eddie was grateful every single day. Even if Eddie was also head over heels in love with him - A Steddie Ballet AU
Starstruck
Soulmate-ism has been documented throughout human history, the connection presenting itself first in the form of vivid dreams counting down from the end of your life together to the day you first touch; the bond is activated by that contact - A Steddie soulmates au
Glory Days
Music reporter Eddie Munson was a professional liability, forcing his editor to reassign him to the one place where he wouldn’t have any fun. That’s how he found himself following around one Steve Harrington and his team, the Indiana Mindflayers. An alpha/baseball/omega fic!
Two Birds, One Stone
Nancy Wheeler is bringing someone home for the holidays with the intention of checking off one big thing from her life goals list. Steve Harrington is the perfect partner. Now if only she can get her family to agree - A Steddie retelling of The Family Stone
Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas
The Hawkins Grand theater was always open on the holidays, and Eddie Munson always had to work it. Cold, bored and miserable, he sits in his little ticket booth, selling tickets to the same 15 soggy patrons that he sees every single year, and… Steve Harrington?
Esquire.
Steve has survived hell and come out of it a shell of the man he once was. Following a teeny tiny mental breakdown, he is hoping to find some normalcy in life again. Enter Steve's new boss, lawyer E. Edward Munson, Esq, who is anything but normal - A steddie Secretary bdsm AU
See You In Court (For Our Wedding)
It's Robin and Chrissy's wedding, but they're not the only ones eager for the wedding night - An Esquire oneshot
Dear Steve
“I write you letters even though I know the words can only get me so far. They cannot describe the way that it hurts to hope for you." - A Steddie love letters / Cyrano fic
Beast
After an unfortunate accident, Eddie Munson is made to spend time with the Beast of Hawkins, Steve Harrington, and face his haunted memories of a boy he one knew with hazel eyes and perfect blood red roses - A Modern (‘86 Baby) Retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Pole
Olympic pole vaulter Steve Harrington's literal fall from grace has cost him everything: his parents, his popularity, his endorsement deals, gone by a matter of inches. Two years out from his greatest humiliation, Steve decides to drink his sorrows away in the dingiest bar in town - The Hideout. Little does he know, he's about to learn what it really means to become a winner.
Malikat22, Podfic Edition
I've been blessed to receive recordings of some of my fics - if you, like me, are a lover of podfics, I'd love to recommend these absolute bangers!
SweetTart by kdqt314
Pas de Deux by Celestial_Abyss
Dear Steve by Celestial_Abyss
As always, your comments and kudos mean everything to me! Thanks for reading (or listening)! 🖤
Constellation Chapter 2, Gemini, is now live! Find out how it all began 🖤
Tentatively, he slipped his fingers up under the hem of Ilya’s jeans, nudging beneath the edge of his sock; Shane wrapped a hand around the boney ankle and squeezed gently, skin to skin, a reminder that Ilya was not alone in this world.
Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Rose Landry, Svetlana Vetrova, Hayden Pike, The Centaurs
Tags: Non Canon AU, Shane POV, Alternating Timelines, Cheating, crumbling marriage, unhappy wife unhappy life, Justice for Rose, adoption, adoptive siblings, adoptive siblings in love, codependent relationship, angst, grief, hurt/comfort, dumb teens in love, even stupider adults in love, slow burn, separation, miscommunication, forced proximity, road trip, depression, Ilya’s Emotional Support Cigarettes, Shane Hollander has a praise kink, Not exactly dom/sub but the vibes are there, dry humping, thigh fucking, accidental voyeurism, frottage, masturbation, biting, spit, sex, angry sex, tender sex, anal sex, anal fingering, rimming, blow jobs, hand jobs, all the jobs, The Cottage ™, Spoilers for the Long Game, Happy Ending Guaranteed I promise
Summary: Ilya Rozanov was 12 years old when he was adopted by his billet family in Ottawa, Canada, 7158 kilometers away from the place where he had once lived entirely unknown to one Shane Hollander. Shane’s life hadn’t been the same since — a lost piece of himself found, a brother he never knew he had been missing for so long, a connection that was instantaneous and… forbidden. Wrong. Undeniable.
Now, following another cruel twist of fate, Ilya is back and Shane must finally face the wreckage of the years that had passed between them, and the dissonance of the brothers they were meant to be on the surface versus the family they had always been locked away in the shadows of their hearts.
“I’m not your maid, get it yourself,” Shane shouted back before muttering under his breath so only he could hear it, “asshole.”
He could hear the low rumble of a chuckle that sounded a little too gleeful all things considered, almost like this was exactly the outcome Ilya had been hoping for. There were heavy footsteps on the stairs, a shadow blocking the light, which Shane tried to ignore until his brother was standing over him, smirking. His mostly naked brother, damp towel slung low across his hips, doing nothing to hide the trail of hair that started at his navel and moved down, down.
Shane snapped his eyes up only to find himself face-to-face with Ilya’s nipples, water from his recent shower slipping down past his shoulders, catching on the raised peaks and glistening in the light of the TV. He tore his eyes away, mouth gaping open as he tilted his head up until he met Ilya’s gaze, smug and hot and challenging… something.
“You would look so pretty as my maid, Hollander,” the other boy purred, low and teasing. “On your hands and knees doing whatever I asked.”
“I-I don’t think that’s what maids do.”
Ilya was already there, leaning against the metal doors, talking to someone. No, not someone, he was talking to a girl, their bodies curved in towards one another, foreheads tilted close as they spoke in hushed voices, Ilya’s fingers twisting a lock of her hair around and around. Ilya was going to kiss her, he was leaning in, it really looked like he was going to kiss her, and Shane…
Shane’s vision went white.
He stormed forward, roughly elbowing the girl out of the way of his own locker before yanking the door open and reaching inside for the movie tickets. He slammed it shut again and turned on his brother, shoving the tickets hard into Ilya’s chest, forcing him to scramble to catch them, eyes wide with shock and surprise as he stared down at them and then back up at Shane.
“Maybe you should take her instead,” Shane spat and then turned away, tearing back down the hallway before he could do something horrifying like cry.
Ilya was close on his heels, having snapped out of his stupor enough to follow Shane out, pushing through the back doors of the building and ducking around the corner to hide behind the maintenance shed. Shane dropped down into a squat, head between his knees and arms wrapped around it to hide his face. He forced himself to breathe, hold it, exhale and breathe all over again; it smelled like grass clippings and motor oil, and his head was swimming with too much information to process. He didn’t know what that was, didn’t know why he felt like he had been punched in the gut.
“Shane,” Ilya said, panting a little from having to run to catch up. “What the fuck was that?”
“I don’t know!” Shane bellowed, frustrated, pushing himself back up to his feet. He began to pace, dragging his fingers through his hair and tugging. “I just wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, you did a good job of that!” Ilya shouted back, looking equally miserable.
“I just wasn’t expecting…” Shane started and then stopped, didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Ilya eyed him carefully, his mind clearly working, processing.
“You were jealous.”
He didn’t say it like it was a question. Shane took it like a hit, staggering back a little.
“I’m not jealous,” he spat, angry now for reasons he did not understand. “I just thought—”
“I am not yours, Shane!” Ilya said, matching the level of his anger, but his eyes… his eyes looked confused and stormy and almost sad. “I cannot ever be that.”
They stared at each other for a tense moment, both of them breathing hard and Shane didn’t know what this was, didn’t know why he cared so much, or why this hurt so bad.
“Fuck you,” he said finally, voice breaking. He turned away and walked all the way back home alone.
As much as it seems like you own my heart, it's astronomy, we're two worlds apart 🌠
Back on my bullshit again (making title art before the fic is done) Constellation, a hollanov brothers au, coming soon!
“Hello?”
“Shane, thank god—”
Shane Hollander held a hand over the mouthpiece of his phone and called back over his shoulder, “Just one minute, guys, keep running that drill.” His father was still talking.
“—see the news today?”
“Dad, I’m in the middle of practice, can this wait?” Impatient bordering on cold.
“Shane,” David said, the urgency in his voice cutting through the static and snapping his son to full attention. “Did you see the news? That flight in Seattle, the emergency landing?”
“What? Yeah, I—I guess I heard something about it on the drive to the rink? Why?”
“Ilya was on that plane.”
Some unnamed emotion hit him all at once, that same dizzying rush of vertigo and memory and guilt and loss he felt anytime Shane heard the name. Ilya. It had been years, he hadn’t seen him since, what? The wedding? A piece of him lost forever that night, he’d felt it like a death.
And then the fear came. Ilya was on that plane.
Five words and Shane Hollander learned that maybe there could be a distance still greater than the one they had erected between them.
“Is he all right?” Panic was rising, clear in his usually monotone voice. “Dad, is he—”
“Shane. Your brother needs you.”
So uh... Hollanov brothers anyone? 👀 Cause I just finished chapter 2 and she's a long boi. Gut-wrenching angst guaranteed!
Hoping to get one more chapter written and then thinking about starting posting this. Please yap at me if you're as excited as I am, I could use the motivation to pull myself kicking and screaming out of this writing slump! Save me, Shane Hollander's sad, wet eyes, SAVE ME 🙏
Art for Chapter 6 of ‘You I Can't Deny' by @ok-peepaw for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang is out! We're nearing the final stretch, the enemies are finally lovering!
Happy wip wthursday everybody, pretend like I'm not a day late and a dollar short. Just a silly lil bit of hollanov angst for those who partake...
Kusat' (Bite)
Shane Hollander / Ilya Rozanov | Omegaverse | Accidental Mates
Six Chapters | Rated E
“It was an accident,” Ilya rasped, wide palm cupping his own neck just over his mating gland. “I did not know what I was doing. I would never—” He stopped, breathed. Started again. “I have nothing but respect for your son for long time, please know this. I am asking only for the chance to earn it back again in return. I will do anything.”
David’s face was soft, his eyes were bright with unshed tears. Shane was noticeably paler than before, and he was anxiously fiddling with the sheet again, twisting it around and around his fingers. Ilya hazarded a glance at Yuna, and she looked… devastated. She was only looking at her son.
“You two really have been hiding this, all this time?” Her voice was small, fragile. Shane’s eyes shot up to meet his mother’s and he looked stricken.
“Mom, I need you to know that I did really try,” Shane’s voice broke, those dark eyes pleading up at his mother as she stepped to his side, taking his hands from where they lay tangled in the sheets. “I tried really hard but I just can’t help it, and I’m sorry—”
“Oh no, you have nothing, nothing to apologize for,” Yuna said. Shane’s eyes were already filling with tears and Ilya watched as they flicked to him and quickly looked away. He was the thing Shane was apologizing for.
Yuna caught the movement and cupped Shane’s chin, turned his face back to her. “Look at me, look at me. I am so sorry that I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me. Hey — I am so proud of you, ok? We have always been so proud of you. And whatever this is, you, him, it’s not going to change that, alright? Please forgive me.”
Tears began to pour down Shane’s face, dampening the sterile white of the gauze at his neck. Yuna Hollander reached for her son, pulling him gently into her arms. “I forgive you, mom. I love you,” Shane murmured, scenting her for comfort that Ilya could feel.
“I love you, too. So much. You’re ok, Shane, it’s all going to be ok.”
“Yeah?” Shane asked, pulling back enough to look into her eyes.
“I promise,” she assured him, smiling bravely. “We’re all going to get through this… this terrible mistake.”
David had made his way over to his son’s bedside, tucking himself in behind Shane and placing a firm hand over the top of his wife’s, the two parents bracketing their son in united strength. They were a family, a pack, and Ilya… Ilya had no place in it.
He was an intruder on their happiness, a flaw in their security. He was the thing that had broken their son — the terrible mistake — and Ilya could not bear it.
“I will do whatever you ask of me,” he begged, voice catching on the vowels. “Please, tell me what to do.”
Yuna’s dark eyes met his, unflinching as she appraised him, judged his worth and the sincerity of his words. Then, nodding once, she said, “Well, first, we’re going to need a plan.”
For @strangerthingsreversebigbang: project #039, featuring art by @arelliann, and betaed by @malikat24601
"You I Can't Deny"
Word count 42k, rated Explicit, no archive warnings apply
Tags: childhood friends to enemies to lovers, frat boy Steve, drug dealer Eddie, hate sex, casual sex, angst with a happy ending
Read the fic by kdqt314 HERE
Check out the beautiful art by Arellian HERE
Details and summary under the cut!
Pairings: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham
Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, Wayne Munson, Jason Carver
Summary: By the time Steve Harrington graduates high school, he and his childhood best friend Eddie have hurt each other beyond repair. All of their good memories have been swept away in one afternoon of screaming, social pressure, and hurt feelings. Years later, when their new best friends start dating, Eddie and Steve reluctantly agree to try to get along for their sake, forced to confront the fact that neither of them are over it. The boys find that being vulnerable is hard, feelings are complicated, and that memory persists longer than they'd like. Can they let go of their pride and acknowledge what they once meant to each other, or are they doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past?
Chapter 1 of @ok-peepaw's @strangerthingsreversebigbang fic 'You I Can't Deny' is out! Frat boy Steve, friends to enemies to lovers, with the most incredible dialogue, they're such fucking guys. Couldn't have asked for a better partner <3
so Eddie's rapunzel obviously. His father, King Alan Munson is out of the picture originally because he got swept up in a scandal where he was spotted associating with Corona's most notorious crime ring, and Alan vanished. The throne then went to Queen Elizabeth, Eddie's mother, who was at the time fighting an illness while she was pregnant with Eddie. Wayne stepped in to take over as king at Elizabeth's request, and searched all over the kingdom for a way to cure Elizabeth. They find the magic flower, make it into a soup, yadda yadda we know the drill.
Out pops baby Eddie, who has magical hair. The former king finds out that Eddie has powers and decides he can make a good deal of money off his son, so he steals him away and keeps him in a tower, excited to make money.
One problem befalls Alan, however. Nobody really believes that a baby has magic hair, so nobody even attempts to make deals with Al. Al, pissed off, starts treating Eddie worse and worse because Eddie isn't the golden goose he was expected to be.
Alan also keeps Eddie in a ratty old dress he found in Elizabeth's closet because they had been expecting a girl, and Alan finds it a shame to waste such a good piece of clothing just because he has a son. (sarcasm)
Near Eddie's 18th birthday, notorious thief Steve Harrington decides to steal the lost prince's diadem along with his buddies Jason Carver and Tommy H. and winds up betraying them bc screw those guys, they suck, and Steve really wants that money. Steve runs from the royal guards and winds up at Eddie's tower, where he promptly is met with a frying pan to the head.
Steve wakes up to find himself tied to a chair, but that's the least of his concerns right now. He got hit in the head. Is his hair okay? He anxiously starts blowing strands of his hair out of his face in an attempt to look suave, because he swears he saw a dress before he blacked out, and he's gotta look presentable for the lady in an attempt to get her to let him outta here.
Steve is nevertheless shocked when he realizes it's a guy who whacked him, but fuck it, surely seducing a guy can't be harder than seducing a lady, right? I mean, he's Steve Harrington, for gods' sakes.
WRONG.
Eddie, poor soul, does NOT understand what flirting is and thinks Steve's making fun of him.
Part 2 coming soon... maybe? idk how this'll be received
Female Steve Harrington, Female Eddie Munson, Lesbian Eddie Munson, Bisexual Steve Harrington, stevie harrington, Lesbian Robin Buckley, Lesbian Chrissy Cunningham, Buckingham Supremacy, we found love at a metal show, Vana's music is an aphrodisiac, Vaginal Fingering, Cunnilingus, Stevie's Great Big Bi Awakening, comphet will kill us all actually, a strap as a form of seduction, Wank and Tell | Creator is Open to Comments about Masturbating to This Work, hey fellas is it gay to give your friend a lil kiss on the neck at a metal show, Friends to Lovers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Modern AUAlternate Universe - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), genderbent steddie, who among us hasn't made out with their friend in the filthy restroom at a metal show, Come Eating, Sapphic Steddie, baby bi's first hookup with a girl
Summary:
“I mean, everyone thinks that, right?”
Stevie’s bi awakening had started with that seemingly innocent question to Robin, while talking about how every woman was beautiful and desirable, but not every guy was cute (or even tolerable).
Wherein Stevie Harrington realizes she is bi, goes to a metal show with one of her best friends (and everyone's favorite local metalhead, Eddie Munson), and thusly has her world rocked.
* * * * *
This is my gift to @quinns-shadowy-arts for the 2025 Steddie Winter Exchange! I hope you like it, bb! I was ECSTATIC to see your notes on loving sapphic Steddie, so this was a DREAM PAIRING for me. 🖤
The biggest of thanks to my smutwife, the loml, my reason for living, @malikat24601, for beta-ing and creating the amazing graphic! Where would I be without you?! I genuinely do not know and shudder to imagine. I LOVE YOU SM! Long live The String.
Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), Crack Treated Seriously, Sports, There is sports in this but it's not really important to the plot, There's like half a plot here I swear, No one fact check me on how said sport works, That being said pole vaulting as a tag, Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, gratuitous references to the famous olympics chocolate muffins, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Good Uncle Wayne Munson, very minor hurt/comfort, Drinking, Top Steve Harrington, Monstercock Steve Harrington, Bottom Eddie Munson, Size Queen Eddie Munson, Virginity, First Time, Oblivious Steve Harrington, Outdoor Sex, Hair Kink, Blow Jobs, Praise Kink, Aftercare, Wet & Messy, Soft Dom Eddie Munson, He's a gremlin man but he's sweet, Dry Humping, spit, Accidental Love Confessions, Happily Ever After
Summary:
“Well, bigger isn’t always better, especially when it costs you a gold medal! Can we even talk about this on the air?"
Olympic pole vaulter Steve Harrington's literal fall from grace has cost him everything: his parents, his popularity, his endorsement deals, gone by a matter of inches. Two years out from his greatest humiliation, Steve decides to drink his sorrows away in the dingiest bar in town - The Hideout. Little does he know, he's about to learn what it really means to become a winner.
My steddie winter gift exchange fic for @machtaholic!
Unending thanks and praise to the lomls @ok-peepaw and @goingxsteddie for their work as my betas, and for always supporting me and keeping me safe, sane (debatable) and hydrated (eh, they tried) in everything I do 🖤
Had the privilege of getting to beta this fic - everyone please go read this and give it some love! Angst and Gay Disaster Eddie Munson tags ENOUGH SAID
This week’s writer spotlight feature is: @malikat24601! Malikat22 has 15 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and all of them are in the Steddie tag.
Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by Malikat22 :
Dear Steve
Esquire.
Two Birds, One Stone
Glory Days
Pas de Deux
"This writer has a gift for blending angst, tenderness, and smut. Their fics are so so good, I return to them again and again
This author excels at AUs that surpass the original source material, and it blows my mind that they're not one of the most talked about authors in the fandom." -- anonymous
Below the cut, Malikat22 answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!
Why do you write Steddie?
I love the way they compliment each other - two very opposite people who fill a need in the other. I love an I’m too much/I’m not enough dynamic, there’s just something so sweet about the idea of finding balance in a person you never would have expected.
What’s your favorite trope to READ?
Oo, I love a gut-wrenching, soul-crushing slow burn. MAKE IT HURT!
What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?
HA, I think my friends would say it’s angst, and they’re probably right. I love to explore trauma and loss in writing, to kind of work through some of my own, and I think that’s so special in fic - that it gives us the space to do that within the world of our comfort characters. But always with a happy ending!!
What’s your favorite Steddie fic?
Tis The Damn Season by HairMetal666, I’ve read it so, so many times and it always hits so good. Time for a Christmas reread, I think!
Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?
I’m actually writing a bit of a crack fic right now, something silly and low-stakes - which I’m sure a lot of my readers won’t believe. I can be funny, y’all!
Are there any memorable Steddie collaborations (art, writing, podfic, etc.) you've done or would like to do?
Dear Steve was the coolest thing I’ve had the chance to do. It went from a small idea that my friend @staymagical had to write and bind a short gift fic to this huge thing where I got to work with some of the most talented people in the fandom - @staymagical, @tone-mariie, @celestial-abyss-ay, @ok-peepaw - to create something special for our sweet friend @mbeebinds. We had such a short time to pull it off, but came out the other side with the most gorgeously bound book, incredible artwork, and a brilliantly done podfic. Fandom is fun but more than that, I’ve met such incredible, creative, and giving people. Working with your friends to create art for a friend is a gift, and I’ll never stop being grateful for it.
What is your writing process like?
Uh… I haven’t been a writer for very long, comparatively. I don’t know if I’m technically very good at it, or that I have a process really. Mostly I’ll get an idea that I fixate on, wordbarf a bunch of random, messy thoughts into a doc, color-code it in a way that only makes sense to an insane person and then try to tie it all together and hope for the best! I’ve been blessed to have the most amazing friend from the very beginning, revenge_unicorn over on ao3, who has edited the majority of all my work for the past 3 years - they know me so well and I trust them entirely. It’s the one thing that makes me feel supported and confident in what I’m putting out, even when I’m less so in myself and my abilities.
What writing tools do you use, if any? For example, do you participate in community writing events like sprints or prompts, or have a favorite writing program aid like Scrivener?
I love a good sprint, but other than that it’s all chaos, panic and unhinged voicenotes yelling at my friends at all hours of the day (and sometimes from my shower, sorry about that to those who have been personally victimized by Jenn’s Shower Thoughts ™)
Do you have any writing quirks?
I have to write from start to finish and I cannot deviate from that. I’m so envious of people who can jump around from scene to scene, because I so often will get stuck on something and can’t move on (I’m looking at you, Beast).
Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?
I usually don’t start posting until I’m done, or at least very close to done - it gives me too much anxiety otherwise!
Which fic are you most proud of?
Esquire, I think. That one was so outside of my comfort zone to write, but it has resonated with so many people, so that’s been very rewarding. I had thought it would be a more niche fic for us gremlins, but instead it’s my most popular one!
What's a funny or interesting or completely wild research topic you've dug into as a result of writing Steddie?
I’ve had to become a temporary expert in some really ridiculous things - ballet, baseball, legal documents, rose gardening. I finish the fic and then instantly forget everything I’ve learned.
How did you get the idea for Pas de Deux?
PDD is based off of the seminal 2000s classic film Center Stage. Such a guilty pleasure watch - those leg lifts! I caught it on tv one night, and then saw a picture of a male dancer en pointe and away we went.
When writing Pas de Deux, what was something you didn’t expect?
As I’ve said, I’m really bad at pre-planning my fics in a concrete way. I hadn’t necessarily planned to do a dual timeline in that fic, but I was so pleased with how it all came together in the end, and the way details from the “past” carried through to the “present” in the story. It was unintentionally done but had such an impact in the final iteration of the fic.
What inspired Glory Days?
Ha! Another fic written for @mbeebinds, entirely and solely inspired by her DMing me from a game saying, “ok but those baseball pants tho” and the two of us gremlin-ing together down the rabbit hole.
What was your favorite part to write from Two Birds, One Stone?
Their first kiss in the car as they’re watching the snow. They know they shouldn’t, but they are helpless to do anything else in that moment, falling so softly in love.
How do/did you feel writing Esquire?
Esquire is an au based on the film Secretary, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s something that has meant a lot to me in my life, and I’d wanted to write for its themes for as long as I’d been writing. For as much as I love that movie, it’s a very one-sided story, and I was excited to be able to dig into that world and flesh out the characters in newer, more multi-faceted ways. It was probably the fastest I’ve written anything, but it was also challenging because a lot of the themes are ones I haven’t tackled before and I wanted to handle them with a certain level of sensitivity. I was lucky to be able to work really closely on it with my friend @ok-peepaw to make sure I was honoring these characters’ journeys, both from the standpoint of retelling the story of Secretary, but also in making sure it felt authentic to Steve and Eddie as characters we know and love. I loved finding correlation there and tying the little details together between these two worlds to create something new.
What was the most difficult part of writing Dear Steve?
Myself! It was meant to be a lil oneshot, but I can’t be normal about anything so it became an angsty long boi with poetry and music and time travel. Knowing we had so many talented people helping us to create this surprise was such a good problem to have, but it made me really aware of the time I had to finish it, even as the story got bigger and bigger… I even added stuff in after the fact, and my poor, angelic podficcer and book binder both had to go back in and rerecord/retypeset parts of it - I’m a monster! Maybe some day I’ll have some chill, but it was not this project!
Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?
Chapter 12 in Esquire was so validating to write from the characters’ perspectives - watching Steve finally take ownership of himself, of who he is and what he wants, in front of everyone in his life, while also having Eddie witness Steve choosing him again and again was such a great moment. Loved being able to give them that after everything they had gone through. Also, for as much as I struggled with Beast, the first chapter remains some of my favorite writing of all time - steddie as kids I MELT.
Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?
I’m currently working on my surprise fic for the holiday exchange, so I can’t really talk about it, but I hope to have it out for Valentine’s Day. After that, it’s wide open skies!
Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?
I just want to say how much writing has meant to me these past few years. I truly never thought people would read my silly lil stories, so it’s been a wonderful surprise to pick up a new hobby as an adult and see it grow. I love answering comments and talking to people about steddie and fic in general. I’ve made some amazing, lifetime friends through it, people that I can’t imagine not being in my life now. Don’t be shy, talk to your writers! Come yap at me, I’m here for it! I’m so eternally grateful for the people I’ve met all because of two fictional bros falling in love.
Thank you to our author, @malikat24601, and our nominator! See more of Malikat22's works featured on our page throughout the day!
Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!
It's been an honor and a privilege to torment my readers with my angst and to hold their screams lovingly in my lil paws 🖤 Every single comment and kudos has been the greatest joy of my life for these past three years, thank you thank you thank you for reading!
They're falling in love. They can't have it, even if they can have each other, just for a little while.
Retrograde by Ayes (WIP)
Ilya doesn’t die when his plane goes down. But he forgets.
When Ilya is marked as missing from the Centaurs’ plane crash, nobody knows why Shane’s game goes to shit. Benched by his coach, Shane goes to the place Ilya was last seen: the Blue Ridge Mountains. A story about finding yourself when you don’t know who you are, and about falling in love with the same person twice.
Pas de Deux by @malikat24601
Eddie "the Freak" Munson and "King" Steve Harrington were irrevocably bound by dance, shared family and a genuine, unexpected, happy accident of a friendship for which Eddie was grateful every single day.
Even if Eddie was also desperately, laughably, head over heels in love with him.
A Steddie Ballet AU
Dear Steve by @malikat24601
“I don’t know how to be romantic like that. How to show her that I’m more than just a friend.”
“I’ll help you,” Eddie answered without thinking. “I can give you the words.”
Steve turned to him, eyes shocked wide. “How?” he asked incredulously. “Why, Eds?”
Because I love you.
“Because you’re my best friend,” Eddie said instead.
“You’re the best,” Steve replied, visibly pleased. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to write love letters.”
Let Me Touch Your Fire by @microdamage
In 1981, the war ended with Voldemort’s death. Thirteen years later, Regulus still lives in the shadow of his parents’ contribution to the cause. No matter how hard he works or how much he accomplishes, he can’t escape the weight of his family name.
With the biggest project of his career now in front of him, Regulus leaves London to pose as a Healer on the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. The only hiccup is a variable he never could’ve accounted for: James Potter, whose presence disrupts Regulus’ plans and forces him to reconsider everything he thought he knew.
Where Flowers Don't Die by @fluffyboots
Levi took in a breath of cold air as he stepped over a fallen log. He gripped his bow in his hand, manoeuvring it around the frail branches of barren trees while stalking through the forest. It wasn’t far, now. He could practically hear the snow ahead of him compacting beneath weighted hooves; the animal unaware of his presence as it idly strolled through the thicket.
He would soon have to ready his bow, but first he wanted to lay his eyes on the beast.
~•~
In the dead of winter, Levi finds himself an oasis.
