Wanna play a game? Watch S5 and every single time there’s dumb out of character dialogue that makes no sense contextually, go and find its S4 counterpart. The entire final season is like if someone took all the parties real memories and put them in a spin cycle
Speaking of spin cycles. This last season was SO unserious just look - this all of us watching it. We’re the dumbass demo dogs lmao …gee I wonder what’s gonna happen in this dryer/television!?
I would never laugh at my love El’s demise. I can and will however laugh at the whole final season because those white boys were playing in our faces the whole time. Because remember kids
I just saw the clip of David Harbour saying that he believes El is dead.
The "You can't have a girl with superpowers running around" bullshit aside, it was super clear to me that he didn't want to be asked that question or talk about it at all.
Continues to go with my theory that the actors who were over the show by Season 5 say she's dead, while those who were still happy to be there say she's alive.
okay, now having rewatched 4x09 and seeing three pairs at the field in the end… I kinda doubt that Hopper is a goner, as I’ve been thinking lately (and the way Jane met him in the cabin emphasised that he should be alright…)
s5 finale: jancy broke up, byler didn’t happen, jopper is okay (and nothing’s changed for their relationship since s4), El’s grey field happened though…
so it’s like… only jopper and Jane’s death matched the field foreshadowing?
or if we look at it wider:
S5: Jancy broke up, byler didn’t bloom, jopper ended up in Camazotz, Jane died
Then conformitygate flips it back:
Jancy will be alright, byler will happen, jopper will come back from Camazotz (Mike’s parents will probably die, but that’s another theory), Ell will live
Then s4 finale being read as a completely anxious foreshadowing starts working. And this resolution, as something opposing it, makes sense.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage Sex
Relationships: Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Steve Harrington & The Party, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington/Dustin Henderson, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Jonathan Byers & Steve Harrington & Nancy Wheeler, Dustin Henderson & Eddie Munson
Characters: Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Claudia Henderson, Sam Owens (Stranger Things)
Additional Tags: Steve Harrington-centric, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Eleven | Jane Hopper Lives, Demisexual Steve Harrington, Pack Dynamics, Slow Burn, Hurt Steve Harrington, Drug Abuse, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Self-Esteem Issues, Steve Harrington Has PTSD, Dustin Henderson Has PTSD, Platonic Soulmates Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Blind Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Worldbuilding, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Sex, Period Typical Bigotry, Nancy Wheeler is Bad at Feelings, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Loves Eleven | Jane Hopper, Protective Party (Stranger Things), Billy Hargrove Being an Asshole, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Everyone Needs A Hug, Stranger Things 5 Vol. 2 Rewrite
Summary:
What happens when an Alpha decides it’s safer to erase himself than risk being wrong?
Steve Harrington had spent years on suppressants, convinced he was a failed Alpha after Nancy left him for Omega Jonathan Byers. Dustin Henderson—a Latent who hadn't presented yet past sixteen—realized Steve was self-destructing when he discovered his best friend in Alpha drop.
This is the story where they discover that being each other's person has nothing to do with designation stereotypes and everything to do with choice.
(Title taken from the song: Owner Of A Lonely Heart by Yes.)
TW : A/B/O dynamics, addiction and self-worth issues, period‑typical homophobia and disability (Max is blind). Some themes are heavy and take time to unfold.
This is ultimately a happily‑ever‑after story, and consensual, age‑appropriate porn with feelings appears later.
Contains: angst, love confession, one smooch, discussion of birth control
El was speaking quietly to her friend Dustin, gently breaking the news of her plan to hang back and allow the explosion to turn her into dust and dreams. It would be over quickly and probably almost painlessly. She was just going to ask his advice on her plan. She hadn’t expected resistance from Dustin. He was usually so practical.
“No. no-no-no!!” Dustin grabbed at his head in distress, awkwardly knocking off his hat. “You can’t!! Why would you???”
“If they find me...”
/“Why would they find you?” Dustin argued. “We’ll disguise you. I’ll hide you! They aren’t THAT smart!”
“...from me, from my blood, from One’s blood ...they will make more monsters.” El completed her sentence as if he hadn’t interrupted.
Dustin grabbed her shoulders. “You are not a monster. You have never been a monster. You deserve a life - a full life. You haven’t even been to prom!!”
El smiled a little, wryly, and challenged him in her soft voice, “Are you asking me to prom, now?”
“You know what... Yes!! If Mike has been too stupid to ask you, come with me.” Dustin dropped his hands from her arms but leaned closer, and closed his eyes. El admired his full dark lashes that fluttered closed over his kind eyes and she saw tears forming there. She pressed her forehead to his and hugged him, trying to comfort him.
“I won’t even feel it.”
Dustin murmured, “Don’t do this. Please. I’m asking you to feel everything - good and bad - that life has to offer. You’ve missed so much.”
“I have to. I could hurt... someone. On accident.” Although El was thinking she could hurt someone - on purpose. Just like Angela at the roller rink.
“You don’t even know if your powers will stick around. You lost them before, remember?!”
“I didn’t know how to charge my battery, then. But now the army knows how to use blood to...”
“Look... I don’t buy it. This whole...” Dustin took a deep breath, backed up and waggled his fingers in the air, “... blood transfer of powers thing. You think you have Vecna DNA because of some blood transferred to your mom?? That’s not how blood works. My mom’s a nurse, she’ll tell you.”
“Claudia is a nurse?” El asked. She’d never met Ms. Henderson but the boys spoke of her reverentially. She was the “nice” mom. Not strict like Mrs. Wheeler. Not high strung and over protective like Joyce.
Dustin nodded and then his eyes lit up. “She wants to move back to Minnesota when I... when WE graduate, and - and - you could come with us. This crazy-army-general-lady will not track you there. They couldn't find you in Califuckinfornia, they won’t find you in the Twin cities. It’s so fun there, I promise! When I was little, we used to go to every museum, both zoo’s, the MALL... the whole place is like a playground! You could make up for all that childhood time that was stolen from you. With me. I mean, you could put down roots, and grow and - and - make a life up there with us. ”
El bit her lip. She HAD to make him understand. “It’s not just hiding from the army. I have to prevent any more like me... I can’t make roots or family.”
“That’s insane. You can have a family. People make family all the time! You’ve got Hopper, and Ms. Byers, and Will and Jon, everyone you love is your family. Someday you’ll get married and make a bigger family, right??”
“I couldn’t ever have children, it would be too dangerous.”
Dustin scoffed. “If you want to have kids you can adopt.”
“Joyce says it’s easy to have babies on accident.” El’s eyebrows were knit, like they often did when she was finding gaps in her knowledge.
It made Dustin furious at Brenner, at Hopper, at the world, that she often had these gaps. Dustin was sure Joyce had tried to explain human reproduction, but he doubted she’d been as thorough as his Mom and her “our bodies, ourselves” book.
“Mmmm... not really. You can avoid pregnancy in many ways.” Dustin had a list.
“Joyce said she was on a preventing pregnancy pill, and got pregnant with Jonathan on accident.”
“Any man who loves you, really loves you, would be willing to abstain from sex. Heck - even be happy to have a vasectomy, just for your piece of mind.”
“What’s a ‘vaseckomy’?”
He thought for a moment, and gestured vaguely below his waist. “A small surgery to prevent... sperm transfer.” When her eyes widened he added, “They don’t remove anything, It’s not a big deal.”
El thought about Mike. He was really her Ex again. Would mike do that for her? What would Mike do for her? Not much. Certainly not any sacrifice.
Joyce had told her boys develop slower, ‘at their own pace’. Joyce said El had to grow at her own pace too, but that she shouldn’t be sad that Mike couldn’t say he loved her. That’s just boys, Joyce said, how they are. The way of things. But the hurt from Mike not being there for her was too great and they had been growing apart and that hurt... less.
“Dustin, I need to do the right thing. Keeping me safe is dangerous and No one else should suffer just so I can live.”
“If you kill yourself, I will suffer! I can’t lose another person I love... just throwing your life away. Please!” Tears were flowing down Dustin’s cheeks now.
“You love me?” El put her hand over Dustin’s heart. She could feel it pounding through his thin t-shirt.
“Of course I do.” Dustin’s eyes were angry.
But
People can look angry and not be angry with you, El told herself and leaned in to kiss Dustin. Just a small kiss. It tasted of tears. “Then help me pretend to die. Help me lie to friends.”
Mike fights the guards and pushes El out of the way on the bridge so he dies instead of El. That somehow zaps El’s powers, and closing all the shit up once and for all.
She’s able to keep everyone close to her and she graduates with the rest of The Party. Lucas and Max become her people and by the epilogue, there is clear indication of something there between the three of them.
There’s slight flirting amongst the three and the movie scene happens with the three of them as well.
