#tf21fic

[troublesomefox21]

ST idea where Steve Harrington is ambulanced away(?) to the hospital at the end of S3 but it takes a few days for people to check up on him.

Its Robin who goes to the hospital. She's irritated and definitely not terrified because Steve had promised to call her and he hadn't. She is definitely normal and nightmare free and entirely unaffected by the fact that monsters are real.

But he never checked into the hospital. They say there's no Steve Harrington there, which doesnt make sense at all because Robin knows, better than anyone, that he NEEDED to go to the hospital. But he's not. There. Here.

He's gone.

Robin thinks of Starcourt and his Kids™️ and someone would know where he is. Thinks of the adults and who he'd go to since she knows his parents cut him off. The police chief is dead but there is the town crazy lady.

Byers who works at Melvalds.

So she goes and she's fine. Robin is totally great. Completely unbothered when Joyce immediately closes down the store and races home. She drives pretty crazy and runs over a stop sign but Robin thinks its small potatoes.

She is fine. Steve is fine. Everything is fine.

Accept Hopper is dead and Powell, the new chief, is useless and claims to have his hands full with his new job and all the people who died in the mall fire. Says he'll get to it.

Oh. And one of Steves kids has super powers. Or used to. Because as much as the girl tries, she apperantly cant find him.

Robin admits to being a little bit not fine.

And not that anyone really knows this; or not to this effect but Steve Harrington is definitely not fine.

Apperantly he's not even a Harrington. Not in Hawkins but in the middle of some desert in Nevada. Some asshole named Brenner (which raises some flags but Steve is pretty sure he's concussed via Russians for the nth time) says that he's glad that he was found. Made his way back home or something.

Which doesnt make any sense.

Owens, who Hopper had promised them all was one of the good guys as far as military douchebags went, recognized his name when they were getting their story straight about the mall.

Project MK Ultra, Steve is told/reminded, closed down. The lab shut down, he knew. But El wasn't the only experiment. There had to have been, at least, eleven.

Brenner also tells Steve that he was a very difficult child. Very emotional, which he claims makes sense because his powers were unlike the others. But the MK Ultra/US Government didn't have a need for empaths. So they gave him to one of the CIA lawyers for safe keeping/they found a use for him.

And Brenner, who tries to get him to call him Papa, apologizes for giving him away so carelessly. Says that he really wants to help Steve. Especially since he was given *something* by the Russians, according to Owen's.

It takes the tank for Steve to remember. And even then, its not much because apperantly even the group of creepy, human trafficking scientists gave up on him. He just barely remembers the Rainbow Room. He remembers his first day of 1st Grade, meeting Tommy and Carol, better than any of this.

But what he does remember is terrifying.

And the Russian drugs definitely did something because from what Brenner tells him he *should* be able to do is not what he's feeling. Or seeing.

They shave his hair which is somehow the worst part of all of it.

Its not until March- not until El comes in one day and Brenner tells Steve that Eleven would remember so much clearer, so much better and faster, if Steve helped push her in the right direction. And he doesnt want to but when he asks why they would want her to remember; Brenner tells them about Creel. One.

He tells them about what's going on in Hawkins and Steve-

Well Steve pulls at those colored strings he's seen since he was reminded that he was more property than person.

He kills Brenner.

And they get out. He and El get out. In fact, they get out about a day before Sullivan would have flown in via helicopter. They wander the desert and its a pizza truck that saves them.

They get to Hawkins and meet up with Nancy and Robin and Dustin and everyone as they're making molotovs and sawing off shotguns.

He hasn't laughed in a good while but when he finds out that people are trying to pin Eddie Munson for murder, Steve can't help it. The guys a total nerd and he's literally seen him apologize to his locker when he slammed it shut. Wouldnt go as far as to call him a teddy bear or anything but Munson is in no way a murderer. Between reunions and fighting and crying, Dustin tells him about Hellfire and starting high school.

Steve is sad to have missed it but finds himself grateful that his kids, even Max though in a different way, had Eddie Munson.

[troublesomefox21]

Harringrove au where Billy dies at Starcourt, right? But he doesn't actually because he wakes up months before. In fact, he wakes up that first night he's in Hawkins. Again. For the second time.

And it's trippy because he remembers. Remembers the beating that sent him to the hospital only a couple weeks before - before they moved from Cali to Indi. He remembers the tense silence with Max in the Camaro the whole drive to Hawkins. He remembers Neil telling her and Susan that they had to move because of some fight Billy got into as if Neil wasn't the one to bust his face in the first place.

But he also remembers fireworks. Remembers the drag of cement after a car crash, the taste of bleach and how much he begged with nobody hearing him. He remembers Max sobbing and him apologizing.

Billy remembers, all too much and easily, about how he nearly killed King Steve Harrington back in November, even if it was only October. He remembered creepy ass pictures tacked and taped over chipped walls. Remembered how his sister stabbed him in the neck, threatened to kill him and told him to leave her and her friends alone.

So he did. Or, he tried. Only to get, like, fucking possessed. And then he couldn't. But he tried.

And now it was October. Again. And whatever headway Billy's made on keeping his dad chill since moving state lines is gone and he's back to square one. And it... it doesn't just suck. It's not just terrible or whatever it's-

God, Billy's tired. He's fucking exhausted. And before, he tried. Tried the whole loud dipshit asshole route because maybe that was what Neil wanted. He wanted Billy to be a man -the fuck that meant- so he tried. And he hated it. God. And he couldn't do it. Not again. Not for himself, even if it saved him from Neil's wrath on a good day and not even for his stepsister.

So when he woke up and went to school he just... stopped. He was tired. He had died. He remembered that. The non-eyes of that monster fucker who pierced him and tried to get him to kill that girl and- yeah. He still had the scars. So that meant no unbuttoned shirts or playing skins.

Billy keeps his head down the second time around because he doesn't know what else to do. He remembers too much but like everything else in his life, it wasn't like he could do shit about it. Max told him to leave her alone, even if she technically hasn't. He'd beat the shit out of Steve, even if he technically hasn't. Billy's tried being what people wanted from him -Neil, Max, the peons at the school- and it got him nowhere.

So he's quiet and he sticks to himself because Hawkins was fucking small, alright? It had nothing on the bigger school in San Diego where Billy was nobody. It was easy as hell to get the crown here. Especially since Harrington's rule had already been cracking. But he can't do it again. He refuses. He's seen how that road ends.

Then November happens again and he tried. He did.

But Max still left even with them not fighting and even though Billy had nightmares and memories of demonic dogs digging, bone-skinned two walkers crawling about and that fucking thing that possessed him- he couldn't do anything about it. But he had to get Max still so he goes.

And his cars broken down so the guy he's tutored for only a couple of weeks - the freak - gives him a ride. Munson says that he should go to a hospital cause he looks like shit and Billy says he has to get his sister. The older teen agrees only because Billy tells him that he'd go to the hospital after.

And there's still pictures and there's still Harrington except there's no kids, no Shitbird, and Harrington is the one with a needle in his neck this time around.

(These always get to be so long, geeze. Point is that I just want to see a D&D heavy fic with reincarnated Billy who made, like, an unknowing pact (monk-warlock) with the mindflayer who sends him back. I wanna see Billy and Eddie be as close as Steve as Robin but I want the slow burn because Steve is a piner and Billy is exhausted and has very questionable powers and memories and doesn't want to talk to anyone about anything so it takes a min.)

[troublesomefox21]

Steddiegrove/Metalsandwich fic where Billy doesn't die, okay? Hear me out.

Starcourt still happens. Billy's still possessed and the Mindflayer still happens, Hopper's taken to Russia and the Byers still move to Cali. Everything, up until Vecna and Chrissy and the trailer still happens. Except this.

Billy doesn't die.

No. After he takes down the Mindflayer and everything, people just think he does. Which makes sense. Because there was the whole possession thing and the car crash and the fireworks that turned into an actual fire and, oh yeah, he was stabbed or whatever. So he obviously died.

But the military that shows up just as everyone else is running to safety go in. They find him. And he's breathing so of course he'd get help. That's what Owens is for. The thing is, nobody knows who he is so there's nobody to tell.

For whatever reasons -whether some blood testing or Billy wakes up and says something idk- but it goes like this. Billy didn't die but hell if he didn't want to, right? Cause he hated Hawkins and missed home and killed people even though he didn't want to and he remembered his mom, right?

Max hated him. Billy hated his dad. There was nothing for him here so laying in a hospital bed, he comes to the decision that he's gonna go. Leave.

Maybe, his mind whispers, Max will be happy with him gone. His dad would be. Perfect life at that point without the fuck up son. There was nothing for him here-

Owens and him come to an agreement, even with the doctor trying to convince him that he should go back. Back into the tiny world of Hawkins and surely he had a family and friends? No.

So the agreement is this. Billy signs the stupid NDA's, get's a new car and a paycheck/stipend because Owens is repenting, okay? First with the lab and Brenner, with Eleven. And poor, poor, William. Owens can't fix everything but he'd fought with his own son, Peter, enough to see the signs of discontent and despite everything, he wanted to help so he does. He helps Billy get out.

And Owens agrees to keep tabs on one Maxine Mayfield.

Billy goes to Florida. It has absolutely nothing to do with the ocean, honestly. The waters different and sunrises have little to do on sunsets. It also has nothing to do with the fact that it's hours closer to a hell that he'd love nothing more than to forget. Billy threw a dart and it landed, alright? There was no further thought than that.

So he get's these phone calls. Billy gets one when the Byers move. Gets one when his dad loses his job and it forces his step-mom to take a second job at some small ass place in that small ass town. Gets one when Max starts high school. When her grades slip, classes sluffed-

Billy gets a call just around Christmas that his dad died in a car crash headed West on I-80. And no, Billy doesn't ask why. It's not like it matters. He's fine.

He gets one when the Mayfields move into Forest Hills.

The first and only call he actually responds to is left from Owens himself who says that shits going down again. Familiar in a way that leaves the doctor's voice cracking. Billy asks what kind of shit, ignoring the fact that memory and dreams have been buzzing just like he's been ignoring the shit in his life for the majority of it.

So Billy goes back to Hawkins because hell if he's leaving the his shitbird Max there.

The first thing he sees on the shitty motel TV when he gets into Hawkins is that Eddie 'The Freak' Munson is wanted for murder. That the one who had been killed was none other than Christina Cunningham which is the furthest thing from funny but he can't help but laugh because what? The actual hell?

And sure, Billy's never been one for friends, really. No, seriously. His dad made it impossible and even when he was younger, nobody wanted to talk to the kid with unwashed ocean hair, beer and smoke reeking clothes and who's mom always picked him up with black eyes and busted lips up until the point she didn't.

But Billy knew Munson, okay? Knew him from his first fucking day at school when he walked into Hawkins' version of an AP class which was really just the seniors' and watched as the super senior got bored not stupid. Knew that Eddie's name wasn't actually Eddie or Edward or whatever but fucking Theodore which- no. They weren't friends.

But he'd tutored him a couple of times in exchange for a joint because Billy wasn't able to get a job which meant no money. There may have been one -two, three, no more than four, surely- time(s) where Billy couldn't handle the shouts or the fists or the blood and bruises anymore so he'd go. To Forest Hills. But that didn't mean that they were friends. Hell no.

What it did mean was that Billy knew exactly where the guy would be hiding though. To get away. Knew that Munson didn't grow his own green; only sold. Hawkins was small with few places for freedom. The quarry, Kerley Road, Lover's Lake.

As much as Max hated it, as much as Billy hated it, he knew her. Billy knew his sister. Knew that she got herself twisted into a group of nerds who didn't know when to leave things alone. Surely where one went, other's followed.

So Billy goes to Rick's.

[troublesomefox21]

Harringrove au: S3 Divergence -> S4

Billy's still possessed, that doesn't change. In fact, he still 'dies' at Starcourt and Steve's still tortured via Russians. The biggest difference is that when the group is trying to decide who goes where, Steve volunteers to go back down into the basement instead of Joyce.

Steve's arms are longer so he's able to turn the keys and everything so he has the bright idea of helping Hopper against the Terminator dude. It's not like he really expects to make much a difference but Steve is Steve and Hopper is the only adult who's even vaguely given a shit about him. It's not like he wants the Chief to get killed- especially when he has Jane now.

So Steve joins the fight and for reasons he's the one who's on the opposite side of the blast with Terminator. Except while Steve kicked them off of the rail from when he's being strangled and the Russian blows up via energy, Steve tumbles over the rail and falls through the gate just before it's closed.

And Hopper? The room was bright. He saw the Russian get evaporated(?) he has no reason to think that Steve's still alive. Bauman drags Hopper out before the room gets raided with Russians just like he would have done with Joyce in another life.

And Billy? For *reasons* there's still the farewell between him and Max that went as well as it did. But when the Mind Flayer disappears via magic/plot, so does his body.

When Steve wakes up in the middle of a field, he easily recognizes it as where Starcourt used to be. Was supposed to be. But it wasn't. And the sky was red-black and Steve knew what this meant.

The gates were closed and he was on the other side of them.

So he walks.

And Steve comes across a comatose Billy who's wounds are miraculously not fatal -half scarred over- but the guy still won't wake up. The only choice Steve has is to drag him with, right? Because Steve thinks of Max, refuses to think about 'You die, I die', and knows that for as much as the siblings didn't like each other, Steve could see all too easily that they loved each other.

The teen honestly doesn't want to get back to Hawkins. Well, that's not fair. It's just that Steve is Steve and Steve Harrington has nothing but an empty house, a maybe could-have-been friend in Robin Buckley and his only real friend was a fourteen year old who thought Steve was an idiot three fourths of the time. Dustin would be fine.

Especially if the rips between their worlds stayed closed.

So Steve doesn't really have a plan to get out of the Upside Down but knows that he's not going to let Billy Hargrove die so that's what he clings to. For weeks. Or months. It's not like there's a way to tell time in hell.

But when Billy does wake up?

He sure as hell doesn't want to be stuck down here. Even Cow Town was better than whatever the fuck this was. And even if he finally got time with Harrington one on one - the guy had spent way too much time with only himself with company. Harrington needed out.

So Billy promises himself that he's going to get Steve out.

(Cue the slow discovery that Billy is connected to the Upside Down in a similar, though not same, way as Will Byers because they'd both been possessed/contaminated. And Steve had been bit/scratched/hurt by one too many demo-monsters during his time of keeping both himself and Hargrove alive so there's something there, too.)

(The first time a gate opens is weeks-months-years later. It's after things start changing in the Upside Down and the two of them spot the non-demogorgan humanoid that completely sets off Billy's spidey-senses more or less. But that first gate? Billy and Steve don't even understand what's going on, no.)

(During patrols they'd set up -for as much as Billy hated it- Steve took to one area while Billy took another. They both knew that things were changing and there was nothing good that could come with Billy near the humanoid so that's what Steve kept an eye on. Billy on the other hand is in another area. A once peaceful area, all things considered, that's disrupted by actual humans.)

(The first one Billy recognizes is Eddie Munson. Then Wheeler, then Byers (they don't move cause Hopper never goes to the Russian prison), and then some chick named Robin Buckley that he recognizes by name even if he's never met. It's a toss up of who's the most shocked in this situation.)

In the end, even having survived in the Upside Down for months, Billy didn't think that the hardest thing he'd have to do would be convincing Steve that he had a place back in Hawkins.

[troublesomefox21]

I just want the ST au where (prolly modern) Steve Harrington drops out of his 3rd/4th year marketing/business degree and for whatever reason, he ends up becoming the manager of Corroded Coffin. He has no idea who any of these people are and their music is a bit rough in the beginning but it gives him something to do (Robins either seen them at a bar or has taken classes with Garreth or Eddie or something- meets them through her). He upfront tells them that their music isn't to his taste (it grows on him begrudgingly) but he gets why people would like it. He's the least surprised of them all when they make it as big as they do. Steve has no idea how to give himself due credit; he's just having a blast at not having to talk to his parents anymore, see that the classes he's taken and hated have actually been helping and enjoys how his days are now filled with telling people where to go and what to do, finding venues and hotels and being able to travel. Seeing the CC boys as happy as they are makes him happy.

[troublesomefox21]

Modern Madatobi

Here me out:

Senju Butsuma is his normal abusive self, even in this modern world. I'm thinking Kawarama still dies somehow, maybe an accident or illness or something. I think it'd be interesting if Butsuma or their mom had something to do with it but it could go either way. The problems actually start when Itama somehow gets hurt and while Hashi and Tobi are used to it, Tobirama decides that enough is enough.

In my mind, Hashirama is maybe 14 or so, freshman age and that's where he meets Madara. Tobirama isn't at their school yet, probably where Itama is, but Tobi's all introverted and... angry. Hashi loves his brother, obviously, but life is hard.

Point to this is that Tobirama somehow gets the government involved, maybe gets his dad in jail or something. Except it doesn't quite go as he had planned. If the mom is still around, I think it would be an interesting/terrible take if she actually blamed Tobi for, like all of it. Picture Butsuma going to jail and the mom either pretending or outright telling people that she couldn't raise three boys alone and gives up parental rights to Tobi or something? While Hashi is older, his anger is different and he grew up with Tobi either telling him to chill out or get their father's attention away and probably on him. Itama and Kawarama were more sheltered, mostly due to Tobirama but in this, Tobi had to protect all of his brothers even more so in canon verse.

Hashirama is understandably pissed. Since he's in high school at this point, I envision him being super active in clubs or extracurricular's if only to stay out of the house. And as far as he knows, Tobi and Itama are safe because Tobirama is always smart and strong. His younger brother was the one who always protected Kawa and Itama. Half the time, Hashirama felt like Tobirama didn't need him, you know? Not when his younger brother was the one who managed to null their father's anger, always more patient with Butsuma's crap then he was. Growing up, Hashi often felt like his brothers would do better without him to set their father off to begin with.

Except. Except!

Hashirama is over at the Uchiha's or something and Itama is the one who comes banging on the door. The Uchiha's are amazing in this in a lot of ways but mostly, the fact that they have money (nobility, right???), space, structure and more love for their family than Hashi knew was possible. It's not that he's embarrassed that Madara's first impression of one of his brothers is with a bloody nose, questionable bruises and thrice over hand-me-downs. It's not. He's not ashamed he just wishes-

Well, he wishes for a lot of things. But before anything else, Hashirama wishes that the game he was playing with Madara (and prolly Izuna too, let's be honest), wasn't interrupted with the news that Tobirama was getting arrested (or something). That their mom was somehow kicking Tobi out.

Hopefully you're starting to get the picture.

A few notable things I see happening in this is that Hashirama really shapes up but it takes a long time. The guilt get's him bad and I picture, like, teenaged Madara being both hurt and angry that his friend never outright told him that his parents were abusive. He would have helped. I picture the Uchiha's practically took Hashi and Itama in whatever way they could. I could see them being lawyers or some sort of civil servant in this. I think that Hashirama would likely go to medical school (especially if Kawa died of some sort of illness, unless he goes the route of emergency med because of Butsuma). I have no idea what Itama would do. Probably social work or some sort of councilor.

They never stop looking for Tobirama but they don't find him for years.

But!

All of that's in some sort of prelude that leads up to Tobirama enlisting in the military or something and when his time is served (I can't remember what it's called), he tentatively decides to go home. Or maybe he doesn't even go! There's so many ways it could go but let's just say that Hashi and Mads go to some school in a bigger (better) city and Izuna and Itama follow along because of course they would. I really vibe with Tobirama having gone to school for civil engineering while he was in the military and they somehow cross paths.

I have no idea how long this would be or if it would focus on romance and family or maybe evolve into one of those murder/serial type killer type of story.

If this sounds interesting at all, let me know. I cannot get it out of my head.

[troublesomefox21]

Don't ask me how this makes sense but I want to see an au where the reincarnation gods/Hagoromo(?) messed up. This is ignoring a lot of common sense/how you could have multiple reincarnations via Edo Tensei.

So you have Indra staying as Madara/Sasuke but Asura accidentally gets reborn as Tobirama instead of Hashirama. This kid feels some sort of immense wrongness or something and that explains why Tobi is so distant/weird/freakishly smart. Cause he's trying to figure out whatever the hell is wrong. This kid(Asura) isn't gonna get a clue anytime soon at all. I picture him just looking between all his brothers, watching the younger two die and is essentially left with Hashirama and just feels a mix of longing and confusion because it doesn't matter what he does or doesn't do- he always has and likely always will feel displaced.

(Picture a longer prologue with absolute heart breaking angst between all four of them. Asura/Tobi takes one look (or chakra sense) of Madara and is freaking hooked. He both loves and hates Izuna in this because there was a time where he WAS Izuna, right? He'd been the younger brother before but this Madara, this Indra, actually loves the younger brother. And with Hashirama... Hashirama is somehow still his sunshiney self somehow, though darker at times. Instead of him being a younger brother at his core, he's now the older one so I see him actually holding onto his ideals more so then he did in canon/ffn because all he wants is for Tobi to be safe and happy. Hence the village, ight?)

Now the actual story:

Asura/Tobi definitely crossed some boundaries that he shouldn't have in his past life. Whatever veil or afterlife that was supposed to cleanse his spirit or whatever did not take. You could easily blame either the Edo Tensei or the original reincarnation mishap. Either way, you get Indra into his original reincarnations and then Asura into Tobirama into Naruto.

This Naruto feels the same exact sense of wrongness but amplified tenfold because of the Kyuubi and such. Life goes on. He's quiet, doesn't cry unless he's alone and projects himself to be okay by himself as he plays in the corner. If he stays quiet, people leave him alone and thats... fine.

Then he turns five or six.

He sees Sasuke at the academy.

Except it's not Sasuke, it's Uchiha Izuna who he ran through with a sword decades ago and EVERYTHING comes back. He sees how his students have aged. He sees how they've taken everything that he's taught them and twisted it.

He sees the way the village looks at the Uchiha and his stomach drops. He hears about the Uzumaki and his heart breaks. He looks down at his seal, recognizes it, and he cannot breathe.

UZUMAKI Naruto.

This is not the village he built with his blood, sweat and tears. This is not the village his brother died for. This isn't the village Izuna died for. But this may have been the same village that Madara abandoned.

(This would definitely be a non-massacre story. I would love to build on this if anyone has thoughts. I originally thought that this would be a Sasunaru story but now I'm leaning Itanaru. Pls talk to me 😭).

[troublesomefox21]

Modern Metalsandwich/Harringroveson

Idk even know what I'm doing with these anymore but here's another snippet of an idea. Also- this is super freaking long. Sorry not sorry I guess.

There's no Upside Down, right? And for reasons, the Hargroves/Mayfields stay in Cali and my boy Eddie is in, like, Kentucky. Or Georgia, maybe, but I vibe with the Munsons having Applachian roots. So save for those people (Max, Billy & Eddie), everybody who would be in Hawkins is.

For the most part, nothing is super different except everything is. Because it's the 21st century so that means, like, Tiktok and Insta and even Youtube. Means that social media exists and the kids that Steve babysits are of course gonne have accounts.

You know who doesn't bother with anything like that though? Steve Harrington. Because he's busy doing other stuff like sports and studying and trying to pretend like his home life is normal. Tries to act like the only reason he's hanging on at this point is because of the kids he ended up babysitting.

Steve can't even tell you how it starts, exactly. Well, he can and it's cause of Dustin who then introduced him to his friend Lucas which meant that Mike and Will and Jane followed. The rest is history, honestly. Long enough ago that he doesn't remember when Dustin and Mike and Lucas didn't have a camera in his face. Which is weird, he knows, but the kids are weird so it's whatever.

It's not until everything blow up in his face that he realizes that it actually started before Dustin.

Back when he was, well, just a kid himself. That he remembers how there was one day when he was pulled out of baseball practice because he had a piano recital and he was pissed. Pissed off enough that when he sees a man try to force a kid into a car, Steve doesn't hesitate to pull out his bat and tell him to back off.

And Steve doesn't recognize the man until it's just him and the, what, kindergartner? It's not until he comes face to face with stripes and a bowl cut that he's reminded of a boy a year younger then him and- Byers.

Hawkins is a small town and Steve realizes and accepts that he'd just told off Lonnie effing Byers pretty quick. Puts it out of mind even quicker; but he does somewhat recall sitting on the swing set with the even littler kid as he waits for his brother to get out of whatever is keeping him. He remembers Will asking him why his dad hated him and Steve said that it's just how dad's were.

But then Dustin moved in and, well, life.

Junior year was pretty rough and by the time his senior one starts up, Steve's just about exhausted. Hasn't seen his parents in god knows how long but dreads the weekly phone calls. He's tired to say the least. When Jon Byers, backed by all of his kids, ask him if he'd be willing to act in a film Jon's putting together for an NYU application, he wants to say no but can't because the kids won't let him.

The film goes completely over his head but it's fun to do with the kids. He gets to swing around a studded bat and pretty much play make belief with all the kids. Something about monsters and it's equally about Will and Jane -the Wonder Twins on their on media accounts- in the way of him getting kidnapped and she'd gone through some messed up experimentation. Again, over his head but it seems to do well.

Jon gets accepted into NYU but more than that, it ends up getting submitted to some Indi-movie festival or something by a teacher. Than some legal shit happens that causes problems. Steve doesn't know- he'd done his part but now he's distracted by spring sports and the fact that he ends up going to community over any ivy or even state and it's a lot so-

But here's the thing. Life, right?

While that's happening in Hawkins, you have Eddie Munson -head man for Corroded Coffin- having followed this StevieCHarrington Insta account since he first got a phone. Most of the photos are of this pretty-eyed boy with freckles and another kid with curly hair and a grin bigger than his face. So Eddie follows him before he's anybody at all and very casually understands that the majority of the songs he writes are about someone he has no hopes of ever meeting.

And out in LA, you have a young(er) teen Billy Hargrove who isn't able to really connect with his stepsister. In between auditions for modeling and acting, Max introduces him to horror movies while he tries to teach her how to skateboard. Billy comes to learn that he loves the genre but especially those of the b-c rank which- no. The Upside Down -only watchable via grainy Youtube quality until something happens- is top quality and nothing short of amazing in his mind. He especially loves the hot guy who swings a nail bat at the monsters that are only seen in flashes.

Time passes and it takes a while for anybody to really connect the fact that the guy credited in The Upside Down is the same one with thousands of followers on Insta and only ever tagged in Tiktok. All of his profiles have a bio that refers to an @ Dusty_ Buns and an @ Robinsnest. The guy never answers DM's and his posts have gone from cutesy and sweet to more aesthetically pleasing. Which kind of makes sense because a) Steve's accounts are all run by kids (mostly Dustin and closely followed by Mike) and b) he has no idea that his social accounts are, like, actually a thing.

Check mark certified and everything.

So it's great.

Until Corroded Coffin starts... falling apart. One member wants to go to college and another wants to settle down even if they're just young. They hit fame pretty quick, multiple Emmy's and even hosted a time or two at the AMA's. They'd gone on two world tours with a plan of a third and have done US tours several times. So it starts falling apart and Eddie is still so, so committed.

He goes back to his roots.

Watches a video of a younger StevieCHarrington who sits behind a piano and sings Dancing Queen. It's something of a guilty favorite of his so when he finds out that his band -his family- is disbanding, he needs to relax somehow so he hits record not really knowing what to do or think.

Across the country, Billy initially swipes past the video Eddie posts because he's sitting in his makeup trailer only to swipe back up multiple times until he finds it again because-

He doesn't even think as he'd comment 'howd you know about the babysitter???' on his official accounts until his phone just blows up with notifications.

Billy's not sure how to take the musician dming him until he realizes that oh, yeah. He'd just broken the unspoken agreement between people who connected the babysitter in The Upside Down to the same one with the guy who had as many followers as he did. And Billy was in the finalizing agreements for a movie sure to be big and just got back from modeling for Milan so his follower count isn't exactly small.

And then the kids -all of them, ones that Max started following and ones that she's loosely collaborated with across state lines- all post.

There's the Wonder Twins, Dusty _ Buns, Mike, Lucas, Erica, Robinsnest and even Jonathan Byers, the director of The Upside Down, asking people to chill out before-

But it's pretty big news, actually. This mysterious guy from the middle of nowhere somehow gets pulled between a world re-known musician and an actor who is said to quickly be on the road of the best of the century.

And Steve- shit.

Poor, poor Steve Harrington who wakes up one day to go to the school where he works only to come face to face with cameras and flashes.

In a way, everybody gets what it wants about some sort of answer surrounding StevieCHarrington aka (insert acting alias) aka Steve Harrington but it's not the one they would have expected. You have people from the music, acting, fashion and however many other worlds just wanting to know what exactly is going on between Eddie Munson, Billy Hargrove and Steve Harrington.

(You see my vision??)