âŠ..not even six hours later i got an offer of a well paying full time long-term job with free room and board in queens in nyc, allowing me independence and a way to escape an abusive situation and an unhealthy environment
likes charge reblogs cast, folks, this is the good luck post
the last time I reblogged this post right before I got a great job, in a permanent work-from-home position, with benefits, retirement, and a salary literally 3x what I was making before, doing something I really like.Â
One of the best things about the White Collar fandom is that we really donât care what their relationship is. These two guys? Are they father and son, are they lovers, are they soulmates of various forms? WHO CARES, THEY ARENâT NORMAL FOR EACH OTHER and thats the whole point! The point isnât about the relationship, its about this crazy ridiculous bonkers feral love and magnetism that pulls these two together and i love it
I love that the modern-day tumblr post equivalent of chain emails only requires me to reblog a relatively pleasant image instead of forward an email to a bunch of my friends and family members to quell my raging anxiety.
one of my favorite feelings is starting a new show and having that: âŠ.are theyâŠhaving gay⊠sexual tension?? And then logging onto tumblr dot com and seeing gifsets that show several thousand other people also agree that it was, indeed, gay sexual tension
Welcome to the little story I was working on during my move! Just a fun little thing to keep my writing streak going without have to dive into my heavy hitters.
The original idea is here.
I originally planned to go farther than the original idea like season 2-4 but as I was just needing something lighthearted it became a short little story three chapters long that might get turned into a series of What if's.
Summary: After the events surrounding Will Byers and his return to life, Steve has decided he can't control anything in his life but school, so he seeks to put a stop to the bullying. Cue Eddie getting heart-eyes over popular King Steve protecting his little sheepies. So he decides Steve needs a knew title. Sir Steve, Knight Protectorate will work just fine.
~
Steve was still reeling from actual fucking monsters and shit. And he actually had to go to school the following Monday like none of it had happened.
Fuck, they didnât even offer therapy, just NDAs and money to keep their mouths shut. He had no doubt that the Byers family and Nancy had the worst of it, so he wasnât even mad that she broke up with him.
He got it more than most people that she needed to time to grieve the lost of her best friend, be with family and hold them close for awhile.
It sucked.
Steve wasnât going to pretend that it didnât, because it absolutely did. But he understood. He told Nancy that if she ever needed a friend to give him a call.
His temper was short and his capacity for bullshit was low, that was the only reason he could come up with what happened that Monday morning.
He walked into the hall that held his locker to his books for the day when he saw Tommy H. having a go at some freshman. Like this kid still looked like he was in elementary, he looked that little.
âKnock it off, Hagan,â Steve huffed. âThere is no reason to be harassing this kid.â
Tommy turned around and got in his face. âWhatâs it to you, Harrington? I can do whatever the fuck I want.â
âDude,â Steve said, stepping forward instead of back like Tommy thought he would, âwhy are you so angry all the time? Chill out.â
Tommyâs head reared back as though heâd been struck in the face. He pushed Steve away. âAgain, whatâs it to you? You want to be friends again now that Miss Priss is finished with your scaly ass? Because where was my loyalty? Weâve been friends for years and you threw it all away for some piece of ass!â
Steve didnât even stumble, he just crossed his arms in front of his chest. âYou know what you did was over the line and you did it anyway. Because thatâs the problem, Hagan, isnât it? You donât know where the fucking line is, do you?â
Tommy frowned and tried to push him again, but Steve just let his body slide with the motion and it didnât even hurt. Tommy stared at him for a moment before stalking off down the hallway to his own locker. Steve just shook his head and went over to the kid who Tommy had been bullying.
âHey, you okay?â he asked gently, helping him pick up his books. âIf he does that again, you come running for me. Iâm Steve, Steve Harrington, just ask around, someone will know how to find me, yeah?â
The kid nodded and took the books back from Steve before he took off in a tear. Steve sighed and he put his hands on his hips like a disappointed mom.
He looked around the hall to see everyone staring at him in shock. And that was when he realized what he had done.
Last week, he might have called Tommy off, but not really done anything about it. But he had not only called Tommy off, he put him in his place, and then helped the kid.
Yeah that was quite the turn around. So he just did like he would have done at basketball game.
He clapped his hands together once, nice and loud to make sure everyone was paying attention to him even more now.
âRight,â he said loudly. âNothing more to see here. Move along now.â
They stared at him in even further shock now.
âCome on,â Steve said impatiently. âMove along. Shoo!â He waved his hands in front of him, trying to get them leave, but it was like herding cats.
Someone slammed their locker and that broke them out of their trance allowing them to move about their day like that didnât just happen.
Steve looked around and saw Eddie Munson leaning against his locker, with his arms crossed. A locker, Steve was pretty sure was open when he walked in that morning.
Huh.
That was certainly interesting.
~
Eddie had been having a rough morning. He spilled milk on his only clean pair of jeans. He was going to do laundry after school. He was! He just didnât do it over the weekend because he had gotten a new book. A book that was currently being painstakingly dried out by Uncle Wayne with an old hair dryer, because Eddie dropped it in the sink. Then he almost forgot his homework and had to run back for it. He had managed to get to school on time, but Tommy H. had decided to chose violence that morning against a nerdy little freshman literally next to his locker.
He promised Uncle Wayne that if Tommy started something that he wouldnât fucking finish it. He needed to graduate from high school and as it much as it sucked ass, he had to look the other way.
So imagine his surprise when Steve got in Tommyâs face and almost threw hands with the guy, telling him to back off. What was even more surprising was how quickly Tommy stood down.
But that wasnât the last of Steve Harringtonâs surprises, oh no...
He helped the kid gather up his stuff and offered himself as a white knight if Tommy did it again. But by then Harrington had drawn quite the crowd, but instead of soaking the attention like the full tilt diva the asshole jock most certainly was, he had tried to disperse the crowd. Like the attention had made him uncomfortable.
So he thought heâd throw the king a bone and slammed his locker shut. The loud noise startled the populous out of their stupor and sent them packing. He was more than a little shocked to see that maybe Steve had figured out who had rescued him.
And wasnât that a kick in the head.
By the time he got to lunch news had spread that that morningâs incident was only the start of the kingâs campaign to clean up the hallowed halls of Hawkins High. According to ye ole rumor mill, Steve had broken up a fight, called out two accounts of bullying, and stopped a class from rioting when the teacher had a medical emergency.
What was even more surpâ he needed to find another word. Shocking. Astounding. Astonishing. Mind-boggling.
Anyway Steve sat down next to Carol and Tommy. Like even the great ex Nancy Wheeler dropped her fork, flabbergasted.
Tommy and Carol exchanged a glance.
âWhat are you doing here, Harrington?â Tommy growled. âWhy donât you sit next to your girlfriend? Oh thatâs right she dumped your ass.â
Steve cocked his head to the side. âYou made a valid point, we have been friends for years and Iâve decided Iâm tired of running away from my problems.â
âAnd what,â Carol sneered, âweâre one of your problems now? Fuck off, Steve.â
Steve threaded his fingers together and rested his chin on his knuckles. âYou didnât use to be this way, you know. You used to be the sweetest girl and Iâm trying to figure out if it was Tommy that made you this way or if you turning into a bitch is what made Tommy become such an ass?â
Tommy and Carolâs heads rocked back in unison. Tommy moved to stand up to hit him, but Carol pulled him back down.
âIf we bother you so much why donât you leave and stay gone?â she asked, low and menacingly. âWe donât need you, you need us. We made you king.â
Steve threw his head back and laughed. âNo, you really didnât. You need someone to keep you from your worst selves. And thatâs what Iâm going to do. You could be good.â He slid a piece of paper over to Tommy. âThis is Miss Chen, the school counselorâs office hours. You will make an appointment with her by the end of the day.â
Tommy threw it on the table. âFuck off, Harrington. You canât make me.â
Steve leaned forward on his elbows. âActually youâll find that I can. After all theyâre still trying to find the culprit who put the smoke bomb in the garbage in the principalâs office last year.â He slapped the table for emphasis. âIt would be a real shame if they learned it was you.â
Tommy blanched and gulped heavily. âYou wouldnât.â
âI would,â Steve confirmed. âI know too much about you to have you go against me.â
Carol folded her arms and huffed. âLike we donât have information on you, too.â
âDo you though?â he asked, sitting back in the chair and lazily stuff his hands in pockets. âI was never directly involved in any of it. Including the buying of weed for all those parties.â
This time Carolâs color drained. âShit.â
âSo this how itâs going to go,â Steve murmured. âYou two have become my pet projects. Iâm going to see if you can be reformed. Become better people. And to do that, weâre going to have to be friends again.â
Carol frowned as she twirled her hair around a finger. âWhy are you doing this, Steve? I mean really. When you think people arenât watching you, you get this haunted expression. Itâs a little freaky, honestly.â
Steve sighed. âI have learned the hard way that running every time things get tough will only lead to worse consequences and I hate to see you come to harm because you realized the same thing too late.â He ran his fingers through his hair. âI do care about you guys, of course I do. But this behavior is frightening. What if you hurt someone so bad that they took their life or they died because of your direct actions? Do you really think you could live with yourselves?â
âThaâthat canât really happen, can it?â Carol asked, holding up her hand to stall Tommy from scoffing.
Steve shrugged nonchalantly. âThat something you really want to test?â He leaned forward again on his elbows. âHaving someoneâs blood on your hands?â
They were both thinking it but Tommy beat Carol to it. âIs this what this about? Barb Holland? You know that wasnât your fault, right?â
Steve turned his head away.
Carol slapped her hands on the table on either side of her tray. âIf thatâs what Miss Priss said, blackmail be damned, Steve, Iâm going throw hands, do you understand me?â
Steveâs head snapped her direction. âWhat?â
âLook,â Tommy said, âwhat happened to her was a shame, but you did everything you could to make sure she was okay before we went in to dry off.â
âLike, she wasnât even supposed to be there that night,â Carol said, nodding. âThatâs all on Nancy. Donât carry her shit too, just because you loved her. You tried to include Barb and she was rude.â
Steve let out a shuddering breath and nodded, choking down tears. âThanks, guys.â
âI suppose,â Tommy said with a put on sigh, âwe could be nicer. I guess.â
Steve threw back his head and laughed as Carol shook her head. He stuck out his hand. âFriends?â
Tommy shook it first and then Carol.
âFriends,â they agreed.
~
Eddie wasnât able to hear what Steve and Tommy and Carol were talking about, but whatever it was it had ripples that quivered through the halls of the school.
Word had it that Tommy was seeing the school counselor and Carol had stopped making snide comments in passing.
Like, you could tell Carol was fighting back every nasty word that came to her head, as Steve would nudge her side and she would whisper to him what she was thinking instead. You could tell she was still being nasty but at least it wasnât aimed at the target anymore.
But there were starting to be other changes too.
The basketball team was the worst of the jocks when it came to harassing the masses, but when Steve caught one of the members bullying someone, the next day, the guy was too tired to start shit.
So Eddie decided it was time for a little research and that meant actually going to PE. Fuck, he hated high school.
He dragged his ass to PE and the coach merely raised an eyebrow, but wisely said nothing. He knew why Eddie was there. Same reason as all the other kids that never came started showing up.
Steve Harrington.
The coach blew his whistle to call a foul and the kid who had been fouled immediately got up and in the other guyâs face.
Faster than lightning, Steve was between before the coach could even take a step toward the mounting trouble.
âCome on, Kenny,â Steve was saying soothingly. âIt was fair play, you were just in the right place at the wrong time. Walk it off, then take your shot. Youâve got this.â
Kenny glared at the other player, but did as Steve suggested. Steve turned to the other player and patted him on the chest, murmuring something Eddie couldnât hear, but the other guy just nodded and took his place on the line.
Eddie laughed out loud when Kenny biffed both shots and the other team got the ball. He didnât know enough about basketball, but he could still appreciate a good strategy when he saw it.
As the game wore on, Eddie was starting to see the pattern emerge. If it was malicious, Steve would be up in the guyâs face telling him to knock it off and to play clean. If it was a good play and the fouled player was pissed, Steve would calm him down and praise the other team.
It was almost freaky how well Steve seemed to know the difference. And Eddie loved freaky.