“Now it’s your turn. But this time, don’t save me. Save my sister”
The Addams Twins (can be read as a standalone)
Possible different endings. If there is an interest.
She was here, and she was headed towards him. I stopped briefly. The desire to turn back around and yank her by her short hair was violently strong. She hurt him. Used him.
Wednesday snatches my hand and yanks me forward after Fester.
Together we find LOIS. My stomach twists as we step foot into the lab. Six outcasts. Six people were pronounced dead. Six prisoners. Six victims.
“Wednesday,” I go to warn. Something's wrong. But my sister is staring at one of the six. A woman about our mother's age. She’s shy, unlike the others.
“Go,” Wednesday tells me without turning around. “But—“ “Go, she’s going after him. Go, before I change my mind.”
I don’t give her a second to think. I sprint up the stairs. I shove past the figure in the black cloak. I faintly hear Wednesday confront them. Another end to another mystery. How anticlimactic.
I shove the maintenance door open and I run. I hear the screams before I turn down his corridor. I know I’m too late.
“Tyler,” I breathe. But it’s not Tyler, it’s the Hyde and he’s full-fledged and pissed off. The staff is screaming around me. I hear the police sirens. Enid, she called. “Hey,” I look into the giant eyes of the monster who nearly killed my friend. The monster who nearly destroyed the school. I expect to feel disgust or betrayal but instead I feel a sense of protectiveness.
Tyler was my friend. He was taken advantage of by a woman who knew the right buttons to push.
He takes a large step toward me, behind him I see a streak of red, Laurel Gates. “You’re free, Tyler. You are free of her. Free of this place,” I say calmly.
His large eyes soften ever so slightly. His chest was rising up and down for a moment. “Go, now,” I hear my sister say. I turn and I see her with the shy patient and I feel the Hyde tense up and then he leaps forward.
“No!” Xavier screams and my heart sinks. In the blink of an eye, I see my sister's eyes connect with Xavier’s. Our fates sealed. A scream pierces through the air as Xavier tackles me,
Tyler leaps over us, collides with Wednesday, and they vanish together through the glass window.
“Why did you do that?!” I scream, my voice breaking.
I shove Xavier away and rush to the shattered window. Below, police and paramedics swarm around my sister’s crumpled form.
A faint whimper drifts up from somewhere in the chaos. Thing slinks back, his fingers curled in tight.
“No…” The word cracks in my throat.
Xavier reaches for me, but I step out of his grasp—
because I see him.
The Hyde.
Bounding toward the cops.
Bullets whip through the air, but he doesn’t stop.
He leaps over the cars, a blur of muscle and fury, and disappears into the night.
after skinny dipping at a lover’s lake alone, eddie is shocked to see someone else was there all along (reader) 🫶🏻
thank u for requesting anon! this prompt literally drove me insane! (in a good way)! — eddie falls in love with the weirdest stranger he's ever met in his life (wednesdayaddams!reader-esque, mentions of being naked, 18+ | 1.2k)
The edge of Lover’s Lake sits right outside Eddie’s trailer, partially visible through a thin treeline of bright orange oaks. He stumbles through it on graceless, lanky legs — high out of his mind, which is filled now with racing thoughts of boyish rage.
He’s failing English (again), for one. For another, Corroded Coffin’s been bumped to Tuesday night shows instead of Friday nights (a death sentence if he ever saw one). And ever since then, Wayne’s been on his ass about working with him at the car shop (‘cause moonlight as a rockstar isn’t a real job, apparently.)
Eddie gets angrier the more he thinks about it — which is perpetually and without mercy. It makes his pale skin feel red hot, boiling to the touch, practically repelling every wisp of autumn breeze that threatens to cool him down. He wonders, briefly, if it could be the weed fucking with him. ‘Cause everything else has been today.
He stands on the grassy bank of the moonlit lake and strips off his clothes to find out. He stumbles trying to get his pants off, right after his chin gets stuck in the neck of his t-shirt. He doesn’t think to check if anyone’s around until he’s left only in his thin, navy plaid boxers.
“Free show?” a feminine, unfamiliar voice calls from the center of the pitch-black lake.
Eddie practically jumps out of his buzzing skin. His heart lurches into his throat as his palms hurry to cover his still-clothed crotch. “Shit!” he shouts, voice echoing over the empty clearing.
You don’t flinch at the volume of the voice. He can’t even tell if you’re blinking from here. You just remain in the middle of the rippling, silver water, only visible from the tops of your bare collarbones.
Eddie swallows hard, adam’s apple bobbing, and tries to catch his breath. “Sorry. I— I didn’t know anyone else was out here…”
“Don’t stop on my account,” you tell him, flirtatious words that sound strangely deadpan falling from your lips. “Lover’s Lake is big enough for the both of us.”
Eddie squints into the darkness, dark eyes flitting across the water. “You’re alone?” he concludes after a few moments.
“Usually…” you hum, lifting a naked shoulder in a lazy shrug. “…Are you?”
“Usually.”
“Want some company?” you offer, still strikingly monotoned. The strange boy with the wild hair and pale legs stammers for a response. You tilt your chin to your chest and look cautiously at him through your lashes. “…Or should I go?”
“No!” Eddie blurts, then clears his throat with a red face. Quieter, he adds, “No, it’s not that. You don’t have to go.”
A smile quirks at the edges of your lips. So faint Eddie can hardly tell it’s there. But still, it sparkles in your eyes like the moonlight does. “Just act like I’m not here,” you lilt, disappearing back into the water before Eddie can blink.
He’s not so sure how possible that is, but he gets into the water with you, anyway.
The fall season has turned the lake into silk. It’s cool and soft against his burning skin as he slowly submerges himself within its void. Eddie’s wide, attentive eyes never leave the water as he searches for your body beneath it. He follows the faint, silver ripples until they disappear completely — until he starts to worry if you’ll ever come back up again — until he starts to convince himself you were never there at all.
There’s a loud and sudden splash before him. He blinks, and your face is inches away from his own. An almost uncomfortable proximity between two strangers. “Jesus!” Eddie blurts, flailing awkwardly in fear.
“Did I scare you?” you squint, like it wasn’t totally obvious.
The boy exhales a wavering breath. “Yeah… Yeah, a little bit.”
“Sorry. Won’t happen again,” you promise with a faint smirk that tells him otherwise, as you swim slightly back from the boy ahead of you. The dark waves rise and valley at your bare chest. Eddie’s boyish mind immediately wonders exactly how bare you are underneath them.
“Actually, it might,” you continue. “But it’ll be an accident… Probably.”
Eddie struggles to tell if you’re joking or not — if you’re playing games with him, or if you’re just too aloof to know what you’re doing to him.
“You’re a strange… strange person,” he tells you, a half-compliment and a half-something-else, as the words tumble from his lips before he can think about them. His chocolate eyes narrow into thin slits at you. “Did you know that?”
The question’s mostly rhetorical, but you nod rapidly in response anyway.
“It’s ‘cause I’m not a person,” you confess, eyes wide and glittering with sincerity. “I’m a mermaid trapped in human form.”
“Aren’t mermaids already half-human?”
A contented noise sounds in your throat.
“Hm… Guess I’m already halfway there, then.”
Eddie forgets to respond, and the conversation lulls. It makes the rest of the world seem terribly loud. Wind whistles through trees. Frogs croak in the tall grass. Water sloshes softly around your bodies. He gets lost in the serenity surrounding him and drowns in the chaos in your eyes.
“You have a staring problem,” you blurt. “Did you know that?”
The boy blinks rapidly to clear the haze from his glazed-over eyes. “Sorry. Sorry, I’m just—” Eddie clears his throat and shakes his head, hair damp at the edges and sticking to his freckled shoulders. “I’m just trying to figure out if you’re real, or if I just… made you up in my head or something?”
Something about that seems to please you.
A mischievous smirk pulls slowly at the edges of your mouth — into a smile brighter than Eddie thought you were capable of. You float towards him with little effort, like two distant planets now threatening to collide. He doesn’t realize how close you are until your breath fans warm across his jaw.
“How’s this for real?” you hum quietly, leaning in like you plan to kiss him.
Eddie’s stunned still. He forgets how to breathe as his heavy eyes fall to your lips. He moves closer to you on instinct, mouth gravitating to yours despite himself — like you’re some kinda siren controlling his mind with a song he’s too far gone to hear.
Through the mist in his vision, he watches your mouth curl into a cheeky half-smirk. You look on at him, at this puddle of a boy, like you’ve got him in the palm of your hand.
“You are a strange… strange boy, Eddie Munson,” you hum quietly.
Eddie shakes his head as he descends (face-plants, more like) back into reality. The water ripples faintly around you as you swim away from him. He stammers for words while you head back towards the bank. “Wait— How— How do you know my name?” the boy gapes.
Your body ascends from the silver lake, naked as the day you were born, and shining beneath the full moon.
Water drips from your skin like diamonds as you crouch to grab your clothes, lying in a discarded pile beside the dock. The sight of your bare ass would make Eddie implode if he wasn’t already reeling.
“Sorry!” you call to him over your shoulder, with your all-black clothes balled at your chest. “Can’t hear you all the way over there!”
You never cease your stride back towards the pitch-black treeline. Eddie shouts at the back of you anyway, “How do you know my name?!”
i'm back, after months of nothing. hello again! im watching Wednesday and it got stuck in my head that Eddie would love someone like her. so i wrote a little idea/introduction to this pairing. idk if anyone has done this before but im obsessed atm.
Thinking about Eddie who meets a Wednesday-esque reader. She’s all dark colours and monotone stares which is right up Eddie’s alley. He has a major crush on you. Though he is slightly terrified of her preferred activities, reading gothic literature in the graveyard to the dead at night and embalming roadkill. You invited him once to your home where he had been introduced to the dead relatives buried in your back garden.
The sky had suddenly become overcast as he drove up to your foreboding mansion on the hill(as if a paranormal force has sway over your land), you had been waiting for him under a black parasol, your eyes covered by round blackout glasses as you led him through the house and to the back. Eddie wouldn't be surprised if the ground beneath him opened up to reveal your zombified relatives crawling out from their everlasting resting places. Eddie is so terrified of you but at the same time wants to know more about you. He isn’t like you or your family (dead or living) but in a way, you're both outcasts.
That’s why he’s hellbent on getting past your internal defences. Eddie finds you enamouring, a beauty shrouded in mist and darkness. It’s just how he liked it. It’s how he likes you.
…
You’re not sure why but ever since you met Eddie, you have been unable to find it in yourself to scare a normie like him away. You have observed him in his natural habitat, how he is looked down upon by his peers and how despite the rejection he reveled in the attention. He told you once that ‘any attention is good attention, babe.’ The added per name had sent rusty needles down your spine and the glare sent Eddie’s way had instantly dropped his smirk, he almost had a heart attack right there. Something about the way his big brown doe eyes had widened in fear had stayed your hand in removing his head.
You’re not sure why but you’ve grown fond of Hawkins scapegoat, you suppose you do like a scapegoat. Though you despise the rotten townspeople for turning on someone innocent (relatively) you can’t blame the reasoning of shallow minds. That same thing had happened in your family when a distant uncle had taken up wearing bright colours.
Talking with Eddie is easy, he mostly does the talking and you listen (somewhat). Sometimes, when he’s tired or put-down, you both spend time in silence doing different activities together. You dedicate this time to writing your novel as Eddie scribbles in this notebook. He taught you about the game he likes to play with his friends, with monsters and swords, and you had told him if he wanted to see monstrous beings that he should come to your next family gathering.
Eddie lights up whenever you open your mouth, acting as if his world has turned upside down (again). You could tell him about what you had for breakfast and he would lick it up. When he feels comfortable enough to tell you about his past with his own monsters and then it was your turn to light up at his stories.
• Your Powers (You have all the powers of the scarlet witch/wanda Maximoff from Wanda vision but golden not red….And you also have all the powers of Raven/Rachel Roth from Titians but black and golden not black and purple)
• Outfit Options
• Cuff/Bracelet on both wrists Options
• Phoenix And Anubis Form
• Horns And Wings (Inspired by Maleficent)
• Hand Jewelry Options
• Your Hands Options
• Your Teeth (inspired by Abigail lazar from Abigail 2024)
• Your Personality (You have a Wednesday Addams kind of personality)
• Full Name: Y/n L/n The Goddess Of Egypt
• Allas: The Egyptian Goddess, Egyptian, The Golden Witch (you know instead of ‘the scarlet witch’ it’s ’the golden witch’), The Ultimate Being, The Goddess, Very Intimidating, Y/n L/n Goddess Of Egypt, Ec
Steve Harrington x WednesdayAddams!reader
[843 words]
Steve groaned, winced and tried to pull away from you.
“Steve,” you tutted. “Sit still.”
He frowned at you, doing exactly the opposite of what you wanted, shuffling further back and trying to escape the antiseptic you were dabbing at his split cheek.
The bathroom light was dull, much like everything else in your room, the small en-suite included. There wasn’t much colour anywhere, including your clothes but Steve was rather fond of the black dungarees you liked to wear, big boots and collared shirt underneath to match.
Black liner, a black cherry lip gloss and a tiny, black pocket knife tucked into your sock for good measure. His little rain cloud, Steve liked to tease, armed and dangerous.
But dangerous you were, especially now you wielded an alcohol soaked cotton ball like a nuclear weapon, taking swipes at his cheek every time he stopped squirming. He was almost offended that you were smirking when he hissed, eyes narrowed at you when the corners of your lips lifted.
“You know,” he grumbled. “You’re being awfully mean to someone who was defending your honour.”
You levelled him with a look that would send others running, gaze unblinking as you stared at him through dark lashes and lines of kohl.
“I have no honour,” you deadpanned. “And if I did, you really don’t need to defend it, Steven.”
“Don’t call me that,” the boy huffed, but there wasn’t any heat behind it, ‘cause despite your words, you were catching his chin and rubbing a thumb over his cheek.
Soft. It wasn’t often this happened, and Steve was almost sure he was the only person that ever witnessed it. He saw it, the way your eyes lost their sharp glare, how the pout of your lips twisted to try and hide what maybe could’ve been a smile.
“Don’t do stupid things then,” you bit back, taking the opportunity to swipe over his cut, finally getting it clean.
You moved a little closer, stepping between the boy's spread legs, pushing up onto the toes of your boots so you could reach him on the counter. You liked being this close, although you’d deny it, happy to feel the warmth from Steve, the way he smelled — fresh and woodsy and like mint and boy.
“They were talking shit,” Steve murmured, staring down at you from where he was perched. “About you. What was I supposed to do? Just let them make fun of my girl?”
My girl.
You dropped your gaze in the hopes of hiding the way your eyes might have lit up at that. You still weren’t sure how to take these feelings, how to handle the way the boy made your chest feel a little tighter, the way your stomach tumbled.
It wasn’t a particularly comfortable feeling, you know? But still, there you were, standing in your tiny bathroom with the boy sitting before you. His eyes were so much warmer than anything you’d ever seen before.
“I don’t particularly care what they say, Steve,” you told him and your voice was a little too blunt, but you were working on that. Steve understood. “And neither should you. They’re beyond moronic.”
“S’not the point,” the boy muttered sourly, his foot catching at the space behind your knee, hooking there and pulling you in closer. “I’ll fight anyone who tries to upset you.”
You were used to that. Fighting. And the loyalty — it was just, well you weren’t used to seeing if from someone who wasn’t a member of your family. So you stared at him, lips a little downturned to try and hide the way your heart beat a little faster, ‘cause he was exceptionally pretty when he looked at you like that.
All fierce and strong jawed, the flint of his fresh cut on his cheek making him look particularly heroic — not that you’d tell him that.
“I don’t get upset,” you reminded him instead.
“Ah, of course,” Steve grinned, straightening his expression out into something neutral when you glared. The first aid box snapped shut. “How could I forget?”
“Maybe Derek and his hoard of imbeciles knocked too many brain cells out that time.”
You were teasing, maybe a little too mean, but teasing all the same. Besides, no one else was allowed to poke fun at Steve except you. It had taken the boy a while to cotton on, but he’d eventually realised that you were flirting with him when you did.
“You’re stone cold, babe,” Steve mused, bringing a hand to cup the nape of your neck. “An absolute heartless little thing.”
You preened.
“Gimme a kiss anyways?” Steve asked, already pressing his forehead to your own. He heard the way your breath hitched, not that he’d point it out.
“Say please,” you tried to sound unaffected, bored even, but it was hard.
Steve Harrington’s warmth had a way of creeping into even the coldest of your corners, all sunshine and summer sneaking through the cracks of your facade.
“Please,” Steve whispered and well, you couldn’t deny him, could you?
Reader: Wednesday’s twin, the twins can share powers because they are connected, and Y/N can control electricity.
“I tried being your friend,” he scoffs. “Look where that got me.”
“This isn't about us, Xavier.”
He lunged forward, chains rattling, he points at me. “No, it’s about you!”
His eyes flicker over to Wednesday. “Every time you both get involved, people get hurt.” He makes eye contact with me. “You’re toxic. All you ever do is make things worse.”
Wednesday takes a step toward the cell, an effort to put some distance between us.
I put my head down and close my eyes. Wednesday watches as I wipe all of my emotions away. She steps away from the cage.
I open up the page revealing the picture of Wednesday and I on the battle field with the pilgrim.
“Tyler warned me that something bad was coming. And I think—“ “No!” Xavier raises his voice. “You’ve already shown me that. I don’t care.”
Y/N gulps. Wednesday feels a wave of grief wash over her. This is her fault. She was the one who pushed her sister to indulge in a friendship with Tyler. She is the one who tried to shove off her sisters need for love and affection onto someone else. She is the one who turned her against Xavier and sent her to the lions den.
“Do you want to stop this? Then leave. Both of you, go far away and never come back.” Wednesday can feel her sisters heart shattering. “Do you understand? That can’t happen if neither of you aren’t here. That’s how you save everyone, okay. So, go.”
“LEAVE!” His chains rattle and for the first time Wednesday sees her sister jump. Tears in her eyes, she closes the paper, and leaves.
Xavier watches her go and then turns to Wednesday. “You too, Add—“ Wednesday steps forward and grabs his shirt. “Never, talk to my sister like that again. You want someone to blame? Someone to hate? You hate me.” Wednesday shoved him back.
Xavier scoffs as she walks away. “She never doubted you. Even when she saw your paintings. She always believed that you weren’t the Hyde.” Wednesday doesn’t look back, but she waits a moment and when all she is met with is silence she leaves.
His body goes limp and he falls to his knees. “Up you go!” Galpin says, keys shaking in his hand. “Time for the transfer.”
Xavier’s eyes seek out any sign of the Addams but he is quickly shoved into the back of the sheriff's police car.
Closing his eyes he remembers all the times that Y/N had shown him kindness. She put on a hard exterior like her sister, but he knew better. He remembered their whispered stories from the first time they met. They were just kids, but even then Y/N knew that she was different, even from her own family of misfits. When they arrived at Nevermore, Xavier knew that she was just as in love with him as he is her. But the Addams twins had perfected their united front. In many ways, Y/N had trained herself to disappear. She now appeared to be a copy of Wednesday.
And she fooled him. She made him believe that she did not care for him. That he was simply a means to an end and then it turned out he was the end—for a while atleast.
“What are we doing?” Xavier asks when the car stops. Sheriff Galpin talks on the phone for a minute and then pulls out his personal phone and looks at his son’s location. “You tracking your little monster?” Xavier scoffs. Tyler was another mistake he made. Xavier should have seen him for what he truly was. He should have warned Y/N. Instead, he allowed her to push him away and befriend a monster.
“You shut it.” Galpin shuts off the car and gets out.
“Hey, wait. Wait! Hey! What about me? What…” Xavier slams his hands onto the wire mesh. “Oh, you asshole!” Xavier kicks the seat and screams in frustration. There is no way to get the chain off and even if he gets out of the car, he is at risk of tripping and hanging himself with the restraints that tie his hands and feet to his neck.
Closing his eyes, the scene from the jail cell play like a movie. He could see the hatred in her eyes that she thought she was hiding. At the time he was telling himself that it was directed at him. But he knew as soon as Wednesday stepped inbetween them that it was a self hatred that was clawing inside her.
Xavier screams once more.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Y/N whispers. She pushes up on her elbow, being careful not to disturb the corpse too much. Xavier nods, but then remembers that his new friend can not see him because they are in a closed casket. “I’m not like the rest of my family.” She sighs. “Sure I am weird and love dancing with seriel killers, but I am diffrent.” Xavier leans over the dead body.
“One summer my parents hired this man-killer nanny and she sent us away to summer camp so she could marry and kill my uncle…” Xavier hangs onto every word. “I have never told a soul, but I loved it. Sure the company was horrendous, but I loved camp. I also love the color pink.” Y/N laughs. She goes through a lists more things that she likes.
“Dont get me wrong, I love my sister. I have killed for my sister—and we have this weird twin thing where we can see the same vision or memories as each other, but I am diffrent.” Xavier stills as her breath washes over him. “I am me.” “I see you.” Xavier says. “You promise?” “I promise,” Xavier grasps her hand and sparks appear. “Hey, Xavier, what if no one finds us?”
Thump, thump. “Yes!” Xavier yells as Thing slides down the back window. “Yes! Yes! Yes, Thing!”
After Thing releases him, Xavier thanks him and takes off running to the school. No one tries to stop him as he grabs the bow and arrows from the archery range and rushes to the courtyard. “Stay away from her!” He shouts. Arrow aimed at the pilgrims heart. He takes in the sight. The courtyard is burning and in the middle stand the Addam’s twins and the pilgrim. “No!” Y/N shouts as he releases the arrow. Wednesday looks at her sister and then jumps infront of Xavier. Both twins fall to the ground.
“We’re fine!” Wednesday shouts, her hands reaching for Y/N. A large black and purple brusie forms on Y/N’s chest where the arrow is impaled in her sister. “Oh my—“ Xavier looks at them both with wide eyes. “Go!” Y/N shouts. “Get them out of here.”
Xavier hesitates and locks eyes with Y/N. “I see you.”
“You promise?” She looks at him with wide eyes. “Yes, I promise. That is the only reason I am going right now.” Xavier squeezes her hand a bolt of electricity shoots up his arm. “Now!” Wednesday shouts. Xavier runs towards the other students. He turns around and watches Y/N pull the arrow out of Wednesday. Both of them stand. Wednesday grabs the sword and Y/N’s hands spark with electricity.
At the gate, Xavier stands with the school as they wait. “Where’s Y/N and Wednesday?” Enid asks, her body shaking. Xavier looks around at his friends and then Enid is pushing through the crowd. Before his thoughts can catch up his feet are running towards Y/N.
Enid falls into their arms. Without thought, Wednesdays pulls away from Enid, her hand entwined with her sisters seperates them as well. Xavier’s eyes rake over Y/N. Her black school uniform is ripped and underneath it is a pink shirt. After a second, both of the twins throw their arms around Enid and bury their heads in her neck.
Looking up, Y/N’s eyes connect with Xavier’s. She pulls away from her sister and Enid. Wednesday hesitantly lets go of her hand. “Xavier—” Y/N goes to explain. Xavier steps forward. “I’m so sorry.” Her eyes gloss over at his words. “I am sorry too. I should have told you that I see you too.”
She reaches out towards him. Her hands stop just before tey touch his face. He leans forward. The buzz of electricity dances along his skin. “I see you, Xavier Thorpe.”
Xavier pulls her into a hug.
Xavier leans on the railing and smiles at Y/N. His cheeks flush a pretty pink when she smiles back and tugs her sisters hand, leading them up the stairs.
“Addams,” Xavier shoved his hands in his coat pockets. Wednesday raises an eyebrow at him. “Hurt her and she will kill you herself.”
Xavier smirks. “Then I’ll raise you from the dead and kill you again,” Wednesday smiles. Xavier’s smirk wavers as he looks into her dead eyes. “Message recieved.”
Y/N steps toward Xavier and their hands intertwine. Wednesday mutters something about the car. “Hey, Wednesday.” Xavier turns his head to look at her. “Thank you.” “Now it’s your turn. But this time, don’t save me. Save my sister.” Wednesday disappears down the stairs.
“Come visit me?” Y/N whispers. Their noses touching. His hands grip her waist. Her new pink sweater a beautiful contrast to her black hair. Xavier tilts his head. There lips centimeters apart. “I promise.”
Y/n smiles and leans back. “Good, because i got something for you if you do…” She smiles and then twirls out of his arms. “Got to go.” “Me too,” He reaches for her one last time. Their hands meet and then she pulls away.
Thinking about doing a series of Oneshots. Y’all interested? Smut to come of course.
[1.4k] wendesday!reader, a secret santa draw and a very flustered and ambitious steve harrington for the first day of christmas.
.
At first, Steve Harrington was elated to draw your name in the Secret Santa.
It was the perfect set up really. He adored Christmas—despite the fact he often spent it alone—he loved the songs and the decorations and the lights, the happiness that just seemed to take over the month of December. He prided himself in being a good gift giver, with money to spare and people he cared about to spare it on, it was truly meant to be.
And you.
Well, against all logic of anyone in Hawkins, Indiana, resident sunshine boy Steve Harrington had fallen for you. What started off as an innocent crush on a local weirdo had become something more and there was no denying he was absolutely and completely enamoured by you.
It was a perfect Hallmark set up if it weren’t for the fact that Steve had no fucking idea what to get you.
“What about a necklace?” Steve pondered after a few moments, fingers a little sticky from the candy cane in his hand. “Girls love jewellery, no?”
“And you think she will?” Dustin scoffed, shaking his head adamantly. “You’re screwed, dude. Accept it.”
“No, I’m not,” Steve puffed his chest out. He turned to the boy in his passenger seat. “What would you get her then?”
“Does she even celebrate Christmas?” Dustin countered with his nose scrunched up. “It doesn’t seem like…her thing, you know?”
“Fuck, what if she’s Jewish?” Steve murmured to himself. “Do you think she celebrates Hanukkah? People get Hannukah gifts too, right?”
Dustin blinked at him. “I meant Christmas spirit and gift giving, dumbass.”
“You’re meant to help me out!” Steve exclaimed, a little frazzled now at the fact that maybe his whole plan wasn’t working out the way he originally planned too. “I thought that’s why you were here!”
“Oh no, I needed a ride to the mall to get my Secret Santa gift,” Dustin said and flashed the older boy a massive grin. “And to coerce you into buying me hot chocolate.”
Steve narrowed his eyes. “You’re a scoundrel, Henderson.”
“At least I have my Secret Santa sorted,” Dustin retorted which only made Steve’s scowl deepen.
“I’ll work it out,” he insisted.
Dustin only snorted in response. “Yeah sure, and I’m the Easter Bunny.”
As it turned out, buying you a gift that Steve was sure you would enjoy was a lot harder to come by than he assumed. He had flicked through magazines, went door to door through different stores in town, and had even gone as far as trying to ask some of the others for help (since Dustin was useless), his bet being none other than resident scary outcast, Eddie Munson.
“I don’t know, dude,” Eddie answered with a shrug, not looking up from the bass on his lap which he had been replacing the strings of since he shattered one in his last gig. Steve knew well enough that Dustin had bought him new strings for that very reason as a part of Secret Santa but kept his mouth shut. “Get her some…bugs or shit.”
Steve blinked in disbelief. “Bugs or shit? That’s all you’ve got?”
“Believe it or not, Harrington, but she scares the shit out of me too,” Eddie retorted with an easy grin on his face.
“She isn’t scary,” Steve defended with a small huff, hands placed on his hips as he stood a few feet away from the curly haired boy.
“Oh my mistake,” Eddie drawled out as he placed a hand over his heart, a mocking pout on his lips but the mischief glimmering in his eyes. “Forgot you’re in love with her.”
“Me? In love? Pffft, no!” Steve spluttered out, his cheeks quickly flushing pink as he waved his friend off. “You’re talking bullshit, Munson.”
“It’s the only other reason I could see for you to care so much about her gift,” Eddie stated as though it were the simplest explanation. “Either scared shitless or dumb enough to fall for her.”
Steve scoffed. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Eddie’s grin widened. “She is gonna rip your heart out for breakfast, Harrington. A pretty present wrapped in a bow isn’t gonna change that.”
“Whatever,” Steve grumbled as he grabbed his jacket that laid on the stool, shrugging it on over his shoulders as he made his way towards the trailer door. “You are useless.”
“Just accept defeat, Stevie!”
“Fuck off, Munson!”
And then the day of the exchange came, and Steve truly could not think of a day that matched his nerves as this one did. His stomach had been fluttering with some weird mix of anxiety and butterflies, his heart was seconds away from beating out of his chest and he swore he would explode if he had to wait any longer.
One by one, they went around the circle until they finally landed on you.
The words were already tumbling out in a rambling mess the second Steve stood up to hand you the present, but that just seemed to be the effect you had on him. His eyes were fixed on the half-ass job he did in wrapping the box and the messy bow tied around the gift. Even the tag with your name scribbled on it with his messy handwriting looked a little too illegible now, and Steve was suddenly left wondering if maybe the others were right.
Maybe he should have just accepted defeat.
“It’s just something small, not even that big of a deal if I am being honest. It’s just something I thought you would find practical and I was already in the next town over doing…something completely unrelated and I saw the store and thought—”
“Steve.”
“Yeah?”
“Just hand me the box.”
“Yeah, okay.”
His nails were digging into the skin of his palm as he watched you effortlessly tear through the taped up paper, your calculating eyes fixed on the familiar logo on the box. You paused for a moment—an action so brief that barely anybody would notice but Steve did. Your hands quickly moved to lift the lid.
“I know you like those shoes a lot and there isn’t a store here and I saw them in the window…” Steve trailed off, the insistent need to fill the silence battling his need for you to say something before he exploded. “And I remember you said your boots were being worn down so—”
“I never said that,” you stated simply as you lifted your head, eyes finding his in the room and the existence of the others didn’t seem to matter much at that moment.
But it was true. You had never once told him or anyone that your boots had worn down. You had never even hinted at it. It was just something Steve himself had picked up on because he was pathetically in love with you and his attention was glued to you whenever you were in his vicinity.
You wore those damned boots everywhere you went, no matter the weather or the occasion. You had worn them every day Steve had known you and he noticed how scuffed out they looked. He couldn’t imagine they were doing you any good anymore, especially as winter hit Hawkins a little harder than it had done the past few years.
New boots were practical, Steve had reasoned with himself. It wasn’t just some cheesy gift you’d roll your eyes at and hate him forever for.
“Right,” Steve cleared his throat. “You didn’t.”
He didn’t know if it was the mulled wine or the heavily spiked eggnog, nor did he know if the delusion and lack of air getting to his brain was finally affecting him as he tried not to think about how close you were to him now. But Steve could have sworn he saw your lips twitch, just the slightest amount that it was gone in the blink of an eye.
“Thank you, Steve,” you said as you closed the lid of the box and placed it down beside your feet.
Steve stared at you, a little dazed and it wasn’t until Dustin kicked his shin that he finally snapped out of his thoughts. “Yeah, no problem. Anytime.”
His answer seemed to amuse you.
He found himself catching glances at you throughout the rest of the night, something quite like adrenaline and excitement buzzing through his veins at his successful Secret Santa. And sometimes he would catch you staring back, albeit a lot less flustered and bashful than he was.
And maybe—just maybe—the Secret Santa was all Steve needed to realise his feelings weren’t as hopeless and unrequited as he thought.
