TroublesomeFox21

Fanfic, AO3, Obsessed Theorist - Find all my rambles #tf21fic

[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??)

[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]

It's besides the point that I'm writing this out myself. What's important and what people don't seem to understand is this-

The absolute potential of time travel fics with Stranger Things and, more specifically, Steve Harrington. But the ones where he remembers everything from a super young age.

So it's like... the realization that Steve has, right? Where all he had to do to get his parents to not just love him but actively like him was to lose everything and everyone he cared about and be forced to go at it solo. Literally had to die.

Because let's be honest, he's not gonna be friends with Tommy again. Would go absolutely nowhere near Nancy or Jonathan and for as much as he's dying for Robin- he won't do that to her or even them. Eddie's arguably not even with Wayne at that point. So in a town as small as Hawkins, where does that leave him?

Alone, just like he's always been but with a dad who had more patience with him cause he didn't cry as much as a kid and a mom who adores him simply for the fact that he's too tired to pretend to be anything other then himself and there's hardly anyone in the world more kind or thoughtful as Steve Harrington so...

[troublesomefox21]

Stucky War Divergence AU

This is half a plot idea that I may or may not have written some of and half a request for if anyone has any fic recs for something similar. This is a mash of probably way too many head canons so sorry?

Kk, so! One of my all time favorite tropes is tiny!Steve Rogers in the sense that the serum from Project Rebirth works but he doesn't grow. Stays small with all the extra strength and stuff so let's start with that.

You have artist Stevie Rogers who's tiny and sick with whatever. I personally vibe with the whole idea that he *really* had to con his way into enlistment for whatever reason which we know is practically canon. But I mean, like, he lied about his age, his mom wasn't a nurse, etc. Really lean into him being Irish and in that time, he wasn't seen as American enough type of deal.

Steve meets an older then him Bucky(?) sometime in his teens and when he finds out Bucky is enlisting (drafted but not upset(?)) then Steve gets pissed and just stops talking to him for a while.

They don't run into each other until the war a few years later. After Bucky was shipped out, Steve kept an eye on Bucky's family and somehow comes to the decision that Bucky needs to get back home to his family even though Steve knows that it's a pipe dream.

So Steve may not have, like, really gone to school. Stopped going for whatever reasons so he was pretty sure that the army stuff would be difficult or something but it turns out that tactics are pretty easy for him. It's a lot of talking to the right people -similar to how he'd talk to cops and people back home who thought he wasn't worth much- and knowing when to run/punch/hide which- it's easy. The promotions keep coming and it lands him on SSR's radar, right?

Things happen, whatever, he meets up with Bucky for a short bit and slowly starts talking to Erkstine, Stark, Carter and not that he knows this, but they test him. Howard jokingly (not jokingly) asks Steve what he thinks a super brave and strong American soldier would look like. Steve literally sketches out Captain America's costume and thinks it's the stupidest thing ever but whatever.

Steve gets the serum between deployments and at a first glace, they think it doesn't work. Because Steve's still, well, him and not like this super-powered soldier that they were all expecting. But then Erkskine gets shot and Steve chases the shooter and stuff and oh. It does work.

But it can't be replicated and Phillips is more then fed up so he hands Steve over to Senator Brandt. Steve hates it. Completely and utterly hates this sleaze who pretty much tells him that Steve is just what they need not just for bonds but for recruits. Steve in that moment takes on the weight of any kid who signs up for the war on his shoulders, knowing that the likelihood of them making it back home is low.

So time moves on, right?

And Azzanno happens. The 107th, Bucky Barnes, gets taken.

But Steve says no, eff that, so he goes.

And not that anyone knows this, even with reports and the quick testing that the military could provide on hostile territory but there was the tesseract. Bucky was still experimented on with the tesseract. So Steve brings back all these soldiers who'd been POWs and time moves on.

The train happens and for one reason or another, it isn't Bucky who falls but Steve.

Captain Steve Rogers, aka Captain America who is just as known as the greatest soldier in American history even if it's for slightly different yet similar reasons, is labeled kia. Howard Stark tries to tell people that Steve could be alive, for what it's worth. But Carter and Phillips?

Bucky?

Bucky Barnes drops a plane in the Atlantic Ocean and wakes up seventy-ish years later because he may not have been part of Project Rebirth but he was tested on by something. Definitely not entirely human.

And Bucky is able to connect with Stark a bit faster, a bit better than one expected because before the war, he was a mechanic or whatever. It doesn't matter. What matters is that Bucky is there and he wasn't afraid to tell people to stop talking shit about Steve or the war or whatever. What matters is that Bucky connected so he was there for things when it mattered to the people who mattered. Like Extremis and he adapted.

So things are fine. Great, even. Maybe.

Until somehow, in someway, people get attacked by someone who Natasha is instantly terrified of. Someone with a rapsheet and ledger worse than hers. Some guy named the Winter Soldier.

But Bucky? No. No.

Bucky would recognize those eyes anywhere, even if they are ice. Even if the hair is longer, lankier and darker. And even if Bucky didn't recognize the one who'd been trying to kill him by looks, he sure as hell would recognize him by his arm.

Red, blue and silver all warped. A once bright white star on the bicep with the symbol of Hydra painted over it.

Bucky had watched the shield fall with his best friend, for as little as the shield mattered.

(And Howard Stark? Howard had tried to tell them years ago. He knew that Stevie wouldn't die. The guy was prouder than he was. But it hurt Bucky and Peggy so he stopped. And then Bucky was gone and Howard- Howard made a lot of mistakes in his life. Including but not limited to trying to offer drawing advice to his six year old son because Stevie always said that nobody appreciated shading when it mattered and- he tried to tell them.

Howard Stark died with the name of his best friend on his lips -perhaps the singular person he could say that he completely and utterly respected- along with the question of what the hell happened to him.)

[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]

Eddie Munson Head-canons

Lil Disclaimer: This is gonna be long winded, I'll warn you now. I'm gonna tag parts for Steve Harrington (Here) and Billy Hargrove (Here) when I finish writing them up. Idk where a lot of these originate but if its a popular one and you happen to know where it comes from, I'd love to know, lol. Other then that, the details are my own, I guess. - Also, I know that Eddie has a book or something (Icarus?) but I haven't read it so it doesn't exist in my mind.

He's a Theodore! That's the most important thing to get out of the way. He's not an Edwin or and Edward, he's a Theodore. I feel like I can say this cause I have both the latter's in my family. I also think it'd be funny as heck, not just sweet, but because there's political Theodore's and Eddie would hate it. Theodore-Teddy-Eddie pipeline.

The Munsons were originally from, like, Kentucky. Appalachia at the least. I feel like Eddie's first character change or however you want to say it was to get rid of the accent when he was dropped off at his Uncle's who he's never met.

Whether it's from both his parents or just half blooded, I feel like Eddie has a sibling. I've read too many stories where he has a baby sibling that he was essentially charged to take care of but they get sick/die or get taken away via custody dispute. It sticks with him.

For as much as Eddie loves metal, this boy was def born on country. I feel like he knows anything and everything by John Denver, Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash especially. For as terrible a father as Al was, Eddie wouldn't know shit about music if it wasn't for him. Learned to play guitar on an old acoustic.

He didn't know Wayne prior to getting dropped off/picked up after his dad went to jail. I feel he was taken to Hawkins the spring/summer before he started high school. And if he grew up in the backwoods of Kentucky or wherever, Hawkins was, like, the most consistent schooling he's gotten. He never quite caught onto it.

That gap when he was dropped off and started public school is when he met Reefer Rick. With Wayne starting a new job at the plant since trucking would keep him away from his nephew, Eddie really was doomed from the start so to speak.

Doesn't like cats. Don't ask why but I just think it's funny if all the cats he's met in various trailer parks just hate him on sight. Maybe he's too loud or something but all they do is hiss at each other. Every single time. Eddie genuinely thinks they're devil spawn.

Eddie's repeated senior year twice so even if he was to be a baby of his year, I feel like it makes more sense that he's just two years older then Steve. Whenever I write, I say he's born in 1964-65. Idk.

Eddie wasn't stupid. He was hyperactive/ADHD/ADD to high heck and that's about it. He can't handle sitting in a desk for hours, especially when he was literally a wild child growing up. Al probably taught most of the basics via illegal activities and teaching him comparisons like that. He went from playing in a creek for hours and hours by himself to having to wear shoes and say the pledge of allegiance. Can you really blame him for having to repeat second year twice?

Eddie has friends in both Corroded Coffin and Hellfire and for all that he loves them, I feel like he struggles to connect all of his worlds together. Hellfire's an escape cause he can take what he's been through in life and either ignore it or channel it. With CC, it's similar but different because he doesn't have to plan or anything. He just plays and sings and it's great. For as much as Eddie loves to read manuals and Tolkien and Lewis, writing lyrics is something personal and both light and heavy. The guys are nice enough to just say that the songs are good and he loves them, there's also space.

Which may be why he's so effing fascinated when Malibu Ken moved into Hawkins. From a born and raised country boy, how was he not supposed to be fascinated by Billy Hargrove? And for as much as Eddie tries to distance himself from memory and pretend that he's nothing like his father, the first actual conversation between the two of them is about Billy's car. Eddie may or may not see price tags but that doesn't mean that he'll act on anything. He's just noticing.

Eddie takes it pretty badly when Billy dies. Now that I'm, like, writing it and like I'd mentioned it in Billy's HC post, I feel like Eddie may have been tutored by Hargrove, right? let's say that that's when things click but he still has to put the time in. Eddie was supposed to finish his senior year via summer school but since Billy died? Third times the charm.

When the Mayfields move into Forest Hills, Eddie already knows Max even if she doesn't know him. He'd heard from Billy when they lit up enough to know that the guy actually cared about his stepsister. Billy never outright said he had regrets but he didn't need to. It took a few weeks before Eddie could make himself go over but when he did, he wasn't able to think of Max as anything other than Billy's sister. They were way too much alike. Billy would probably hate him for it but Eddie promised himself then that he'd take care of her when/where he could. Which is to also say that while Eddie Munson would and did die for Dustin Henderson, Max Mayfield would always be his favorite.

[troublesomefox21]

Billy Hargrove Head-canons

Lil Disclaimer: This is gonna be long winded, I'll warn you now. I'm gonna tag parts for Steve Harrington (Here) and Eddie Munson (Here) when I finish writing them up. Idk where a lot of these originate but if its a popular one and you happen to know where it comes from, I'd love to know, lol. Other then that, the details are my own, I guess.

When Neil and Susan first got married, Billy had no idea what to do with or think of Max. It took a while, a long while, but they finally started to click when Billy taught Max how to skateboard and Max introduced him to horror movies.

The first holiday Max and Billy spent together was after they'd known each other for less than a year. It was the last time Billy showed any initiative for childish activities; meaning trick or treating. Max went as a shark and Billy went was either Quint or Hooper from Jaws. Afterwards, Neil said that he was too old for that shit.

Billy gets his music taste from his mom. He loves rock -more classic rock these days. When Neil threw out the rest his moms things after she left, Billy just barely managed to sneak his moms Fleetwood Mac vinyl. He doesn't have a player but he just... holds onto it. I think it'd pretty neat if, like, after he dies at Starcourt and his family finally gets around to cleaning out his room, Neil finds it. And that album is why Neil ends up leaving Susan and Max.

Wasn't allowed to get a job. His job was to watch Max but back in Cali, he was able to get away with tutoring for cash. Idk why he was able to get a job that summer in Hawkins but I imagine it hadn't been easy to convince Neil or even Susan.

Idk why but I feel like Billy's more into cardio. He likes to surf and skate, basketball, and I imagine that he'd run if he could. Almost symbolic because the last place he wanted to be was here, wherever here was. Neil got him the bench press and weights to keep him quiet.

This kid is SMART. I feel like there's a lot of inconsistencies in the show but I at least head-canon that Billy was a year younger then Steve, so in Nancy/Jon/Robin's year. But because we see him taking classes with Steve and other known seniors, I think it's Hawkins version of AP classes.

May or may not have tutored Eddie Munson. I feel like their friendship -which they definitely were!- almost used tutoring as a cover. Instead of cash though, Eddie would *pay* in weed. Rarely if ever interacted in school but outside of that? They weren't strangers.

With that- Billy wanted -so, so bad- to go back to California for school. Like, part of why he was so intense in school was because it was his ticket out. He wanted Ivy league, UCLA at least or Stanford at best. I could see him go for something in engineering or STEM. Something that's easy to fix with little interpretation and in his control when he lacked it his whole life.

Neil wanted him to enlist in the military though. I feel like after Billy's mom left, or even before, his dad would have his old military buddies come around and they weren't the nicest.

There is no way in hell Billy had been popular in Cali. If asked, Billy didn't have any friends. Maybe there was someone a lifetime ago in California but not now and definitely not in Hawkins. Billy had been a quiet, smart, weird kid back home in the way kids were when they came to school with suspicious bruises and no lunch money. There was a moment, maybe two when he got to Hawkins that he genuinely thought that he could find people to care about and vice versa.

This is touched more on Steve's installment but I really don't think Billy was racist (don't yell at me, geeze). The head-canon above could be taken a bit further in the way that, like, Billy was a loner, okay? If he sat with anyone else at school, especially before things like sports in jr/high school, it would be with the other loners. We know he speaks Spanish, if not fluent in it. And sure, he could have learned that in school but I feel like given the time period and what we actually know about him, it's more likely that he just hung out with other *different* people. That being said, his behavior was 100% a fear response with Neil. I def think that Billy tried to bring his friend Diego over for a playdate when he was a kid and it did not end well.

Now! The thing that almost kills me about Billy Hargrove is a character is that however you interpret him, even if you think he's a terrible person, you cannot say that he was lonely as hell. Like- season two. If anyone in the group actually opened up and said anything about what was going on at the Byers, you cannot tell me that Billy wouldn't be all in. Even if things went down the exact same way, with Steve and with Lucas, if Billy had went to the fridge or processed what covered the walls, he would want to know what the hell was going on. And don't tell me that the party and everyone in seasons 3-5 wouldn't have been better off without him at their sides. If Billy was just given a freaking chance??

If Billy had been taken in by the group, willingly or not, he would definitely take El and Will under his wings. I wouldn't be surprised if he looked at the two of them and only half jokingly asked if they were twins. 100% bringing the whole Wonder Twins thing into canon as a name/joke. On the flipside, I do not know which one of them would look up to Billy more.

[troublesomefox21]

Steve Harrington Head-canons

Lil Disclaimer: This is gonna be long winded, I'll warn you now. I'm gonna tag parts for Billy Hargrove (Here) and Eddie Munson (Here) when I finish writing them up. Idk where a lot of these originate but if its a popular one and you happen to know where it comes from, I'd love to know, lol Other then that, the details are my own, I guess.

He's half Italian. He gets it from his mom who I feel like comes from the Campania Region. Without getting too into it rn, I feel like his first language is Italian and loosely followed by Spanish via nannies and such. It all kind of blurs together but let's just say that English isn't his first language.

Following that, I don't lean one way over the other if he's dyslexic or not. I think his problems with school (specifically with things like essays) it goes back to it not being his first language. That being said!-

Steve definitely gets migraines. Like, ones that he gets medicine for and are chronic. I think he was already predisposed to them for reasons but they get worse when he started to get more and more concussions. I feel like he was younger when he got his first one, like maybe even elementary school.

Wears glasses but doesn't like wearing them around other people. Idk if contacts were a thing back in the 70s-80s and I'm too lazy to check but I'm pretty sure he just let himself go to school half blind and didn't care. Also a factor to his grades and it's worse when he has a migraine.

This maybe a bit different but I feel like he genuinely likes poetry; reading or writing his own. We know he wrote Nancy notes and that he's a romantic at heart. I think that the shorter stanzas and ability to interpret it however he wants is appealing.

And following that- I really don't think Steve's bad at school. He has a lot of things stacked against him and to keep from rambling too far, I think he likes creative classes. He's not good at memorizing so classes like chem and math are rough but when it comes to things like English or even creative writing? A lil sad but even with him possibly throwing parties and being known friends with Tommy H and Carol Perkins, no other friends are really ever mentioned. I feel like he has a ton of free time that he used to/could/would fill with things like movies, cartoons or reading but he doesn't have anyone to actually talk to about that kind of stuff. Which is also why he leans into sports so much?

I have nothing to back this with canon but I feel like this boy can sing. Like- I 100% wouldn't be surprised if young teenaged Steve Harrington used to fill the silence singing along with his moms (Italian??) albums. Wouldn't be surprised if he could hold half an operatic note.

He also cooks. I don't know if it's something that he likes doing per say, or if it's cause he's more embarrassed to go out to restaurants alone. Either way, he's a hella good cook. Especially when it comes to things like pastas and breads.

Steve's parents weren't abusive, they were neglective. I feel like his parents honestly love him a lot they're just never there. Never home. Steve can call and has called he just... doesn't. He knows the numbers to their secretary's and to whatever hotel they're at but they just hadn't been close since they started traveling more when he was, like, six? Steve had nannies until he hit double digits but that was about it. He talks to his parents and everything but it's just filler. They always say their I Love You's and ask if he needs anything and they genuinely mean it. They're just not there. (Side thing is that Steve's love language is definitely time followed closely by touch.)

Side note to his parents- Steve is, like, a twice over trust fund kid. I feel like his parents set him up one and probably his paternal grandparents as well. I have a hard time thinking that he actually needs to work. It's mentioned that he life guarded in S4 and it was such a side note. I 100% think that he just got the job at Scoops because he graduated and with Dustin gone at camp, there was literally nothing better for him to do.

And following all of that- I think that one of my favorites is that Steve is given the deed to the house as a sort of graduation gift. His parents didn't make it to graduation and it's fine. He's honestly whatever about it. His parents, if anything, were probably a bit upset that he didn't want to travel with them for a bit after school but he can't see himself leaving Hawkins with the kids still so young following what happened in November. Not when he feels like he finally finds his people; even if that's literally just, like, Dustin canonically. And his ex girlfriend and whatever the hell he considered Jonathan at the end of S2.

And final one! I feel like people are gonna disagree but I genuinely don't think Steve hated Billy Hargrove. For as much as I like them together romantically, I'm not even gonna mention that. I think Steve's one of the rare people who don't really have the capacity to actually hate people. Like- he forgave Jonathan for beating him to shit, right? I feel like Steve's self esteem is pretty terrible so that's not even what his problem with Billy would be. It would be Lucas and the kids. And even then- like... It was the 80s. Racial issues and things like segregation or even the freaking KKK were pretty prominent in Indiana at that time. My grandparents were legit run out of their neighborhood in, like... 1988?? Because they adopted a black baby. And for as much as the Sinclair's were considered respected, that doesn't change the fact that they were a minority in a small ass town. So no, I don't think that Steve even hated Billy on account of that especially when he picked up on the fact that people would at best comment when he would slip into Italian or something when he was a kid and at worst, be told to speak English since he was American. I feel like Steve would notice his own -almost- masking/hiding techniques in how Billy acted, even if he didn't know the full story of/or why. Especially when Steve started to get closer to Max and started to get more pieces of whatever the hell was going on with Billy. I do think that for as horrific as canon and seasons 1-5 in the entirety were, I think that Billy haunts Steve in a pretty unique way because he just never gets answers but is pretty sure that the guy just needed help. He spends a lot of time thinking about what if's with the guy in whatever capacity.

Actually I should end on the fact that Steve Harrington is terrible at talking about himself. Anytime he lore drops or says, like, anything about himself, it puts people in shock. He's Italian? What the hell? Reads/writes poetry? What?? He wears glasses?? Since when?! Just little things that made people feel like crap because they should have known but don't because they also realize that they've never taken the time to ask or even look.

[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 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]

So... here's a story. If you happen to love the Uchiha and have strong feelings about how the hell a village founded by Senju Hashi, Tobi and Uchiha Madara happened to fall as much as it did, I would highly recommend. The OC(Male)/Kakashi pairing is honestly just the cherry on top. I would genuinely say that this is more of a thesis on the Uchiha themselves in how they love so wholly, their view on politics and religion and their relationship and impact not just with Konoha but Hi no Kuni at large.

Pros of reading: Hella long chapters featuring a prologue just over 28 pages. Most will likely around that same length. Exploration of brotherhood and the weight of being the oldest. Severe undertones of the warring era and some answers as to why it was the Uchiha were treated as they were even before the Kyuubi attack. Also, Hatake Kakashi.

Cons of reading: Just... just the smallest bit of angst.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[troublesomefox21]

Sasunaru fic (or however you ship the two) but the slightest bit of Sisters Keeper spin.

So it's modern, right? We're gonna start with the Uchiha Golden Child, aka, Uchiha Itachi. For six years, they're a perfect family of three. And it's great. Literally could not be better, spruce it up however you want.

Then Itachi get's sick and he has some disorder or illness that makes getting treatment or transplants near impossible.

It's not like Fugaku and Mikoto exactly planned to have another kid at all, one that happens to be a perfect match for Itachi, exactly/either. It just happens. And for all they know, Itachi's illness probably isn't in the terminal stages quite yet. Except it does get there.

I haven't seen Sisters Keeper in a long minute but I do know that the younger sister/donator, is the one who goes to get a lawyer. In this, I raise you Itachi doing so the minute, literal minute, he turns eighteen. Tho, I can also just see him outright refusing to continue treatment. Could be an interesting dynamic between the brothers, idk.

Itachi dies.

I'm not completely sure how/when Naruto would come in. I could see him A) somehow having ties to the same hospital Itachi was in either through, like, parents or Jiraiya or someone being sick, or something like community service so Naruto actually does know Itachi before he dies. Or B) After Itachi's death, the Uchiha's move for a so-called fresh start and it is not a smooth ride.

[troublesomefox21]

Again, I know that HP and crossovers aren't everybody's favorite but I got this idea!

You have Edward Elric, right? 11 year old, baby Edward Elric who hasn't done anything wrong in his life ever. Except perform human transmutation.

One of my absolute favorite things is to torment characters, right? And what would Edward hate the most? Losing his brother.

So you have this kid screaming for his brother back and he transmute again. And sure, Truth says, you can have him back at this canon cost. Or- OR!

Alphonse Elric can be whole and healthy and much happier than he ever would be with you (meaning Ed) if you do this for me. This me thing meaning going into a different world and dealing with what is somehow philosopher stones but not (the horcruxes).

Idk what time frame one would write this in, I like the mauraders era or writing more around Bill's or the twins' time, oddly enough. But you would have 11 year old Ed, same age as any other first year, be sorted and faced with this entirely new science/magic system. It would definitely become his crutches and he'd get scary real quick. I'm torn between him being Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. I may be leaning Hufflepuff.

Pretty much, Ed is given the choice of knowing that Alphonse will be stuck in armor for the next 5-7 years unable to eat or sleep. And while things work out okay, it's a difficult journey and Edward won't be able to use alchemy at all afterwards. Or he can agree to dimension hop knowing that his brother wont have to go through the horrors of what would be, even if it means that Al wont ever remember him again.

:)

(This clearly doesn't have to be a crossover but the idea of Truth giving Ed choices, especially the first time through, is both horrifying and amazing to me. You can definitely do something in world where Ed ends up fleeing Resembool alone in the middle of the night post transmutation. Anything for his brother, right?)

[troublesomefox21]

Naruto au where for reasons that would make sense in the story- the Reaper Death Seal that Namikaze Minato uses to seal/cut away Kurama's chakra can only actually hold one soul at a time. When Minato goes in, Senju Tobirama comes out.

[troublesomefox21]

You know, one thing that I miss about going to school for something that I actually care about is the opportunity to write about fandom crap. I've written papers for history, sociology, English and fricken philosophy on things like Naruto, The Hobbit, Marvel, Harry Potter and Assassins Creed. Why can't I just get paid to write character studies and talk about their relevance to real life???

[troublesomefox21]

Has anyone considered the likelihood of Naruto and Sasuke (Asura and Indra) not being the only reincarnations within the world?

I mean... hear me out... have you considered...

Uchiha Izuna. Reincarnated. As Uchiha Itachi? (Or Shisui????) Someone who'd died, begging his brother not to give in to peace, not to give into the Senju. Only to wake up decades later as and older brother (figure?) And quickly come to regret having resisted it for as long as he had?

Only to one day stand in front of Sarutobi Hiruzen and realize that while he may not have been perfect, he himself essentially doomed his clan in his vehemence of isolation? That maybe if he'd heard Madara out years ago, that maybe if he hadn't hated Senju Tobirama thrice over what the White Demon did him, then maybe he wouldn't be in the position he is now?

Itachi/Shisui/Izuna sacrificed his clan, yes. But only because he was the one who'd led his brother to ruin in another life. And yet, in that same life, his brother had chosen the village over him. Was this not what Madara would have wanted?

[troublesomefox21]

HPXNaruto

I know that HP isn't for everyone but HEAR ME OUT!

Someone from Naruto dies and is reborn into Harry Potter but as Regulus Black. That probably sounds a bit familiar and for what it's worth, I love those stories which is part of why this all came to mind. Usually the person being reborn in this case is Uchiha Itachi. But-

BUT-

I raise you either Uchiha Izuna or Senju Tobirama.

If you have an opinion on which would be better over the other, or want a longer snippet let me know. But here are my thoughts with both.

Uchiha Izuna: Either gets reincarnated immediately post ocular transplant/dies or his ghost kind of sticks around and sees Konoha be built and how that all ends. The best part of this, in my opinion, is he would get a brother again, Sirius, who is both similar yet different to Madara in all the right and wrong ways simultaneously. The problem arises when even his new brother chooses sunshine boy (Hashirama/James) over himself slash their family. Just picture the angst. Whatever magical gifts that the Black are known for, this boy is going to have them all if only because he has never, not once, put anything over FAMILY.

Senju Tobirama: Tobi would get reincarnated post fight with the Kinkaku/Ginkaku brothers. He wakes up in a family, in a body, that is surprisingly not all that different from what he was used to. He knows exactly how to deal with James because that was Hashirama, right? With this one, the exploration of genius/scientist facing everything that is Voldemort/Tom Riddle? I seriously think that Voldemort would come to really appreciate the Black family more than he already did via old classmates/Bellatrix. You would probably see more political happenings because this Regulus/Tobi would not stand for the whole mudbloods are lesser. He would clock this Dark Lords racist ideations as the fear that it is and, what, become Voldemort's PR specialist?

Thoughts?

(It should be noted that I actually already have an HP sorting post related to this, but Izuna would either go Slytherin/Hufflepuff (Probably Hufflepuff in this for drama sake) while Tobi would obviously go into Ravenclaw. The Blacks could disparage Sirius for his sorting but their golden child? Hell nah.)