Love Thy Fandom

Steve’s dad walks in on Eddie and Steve making out, both shirtless. Eddie freaks the fuck out and Steve just sheepishly smiles at his father.

“I know I told you not to lock your door, but I take that back because I don’t want to see that again.”

“Thanks Dad!”

“Use protection!”

…

He walks into a house full of random children. The kids and Steve’s dad are just staring at each other.

“You’re paying to feed these kids, right?”

“No, you are.”

“Well shit.”

“Language, there are children!”

“Do I get to know these children who I have financially adopted?”

…

Hopper, who is over at the Harrington house to speak to Steve. Mr Harrington walks in to see the chief of police sitting on his couch. He sees Steve in the kitchen and quickly makes his way over.

“Steve! What is the chief of police doing here?”

“He’s a family friend.”

“What family?” Mr Harrington snaps back, gesturing at himself.

“He’s my friend?”

“I don’t see a world where you randomly become friends with the chief of police”

“I got caught with drugs?”

“Then why isn’t he arresting you?” Mr Harrington points to Steve’s cuff-less wrists.

“Can’t tell you?”

“Why?”

“I signed an NDA?”

“Steve, why the fuck would you do that? I’m a lawyer, you don’t just sign NDAs at a whim.”

“To be completely fair, I was concussed every time or they used a friend to threaten me.”

“It shouldn’t stand up in court then. Who did you sign it for?”

“The US government.”

Not that there's really a good day Eddie supposes, in the middle of running for his life, but he does sort of wish things had taken place prior to him having been accused of murder.

Raises the gun he's stolen from Rick's house as he and the younger members of Hellfire flee for their lives, taking aim at the third (fourth!?) enormous pale humanoid-plant-thing that's barreling towards them.

It's got a dog collar on.

Eddie chooses to pretend he didn't see it.

"Not that one!" Henderson shrieks, as the new horror launches itself at the monster behind Eddie, both going down hard with a series of shrill clicks and whistles. "That ones ours!"

Which--what??

"What!?" Eddie shrieks, and knows his face is doing something crazy.

"That's Dart!" Lucas confirms, way less out of breath than anyone else, because of course he is. Fucking bastetball. "It's a long story, but Dustin kind of adopted it when it was small."

"And where Dart is--" Henderson cuts himself off with a whoop and a loud scream of "Steve!" as the motherfucking former king of Hawkins strolls behind Dustin's pet horror, holding a bat with blood soaked nails hammered in it.

He's got a retractable leash in his hands.

Eddie has the worst feeling it goes to the fucking monster's collar.

(Why the hell would Harrington have Dustin's pet monster!??)

"Dart kinda only listens to him and Nancy," Mike answers through shaky breaths, which promptly clues Eddie into the fact he accidentally said that out loud. "And since we don't have a spot for it in the house it lives with Steve."

"Dammit Dart, would you stop toying with them!" Steve himself yells, before making a furious sort of gesture at Henderson as he fucking strolls on past. "And you! You're in deep shit!"

"Yeah I always am." Dustin grumbles back in that signature fucking tone of his and Eddie really, truly, wants to lose his shit, except Harrington is shaking the bat out and holy shit, he's going to play back up hitter for the fucking monster in the world's tightest fucking jeans.

This is hell. Eddie has died, and entered fucking hell.

"This is the worst fucking day of my life." He announces, as Dart slams another monster down in front of Steve, and Steve in turn slams the bat down on it's head.

It shouldn't be hot.

(It's super hot.)

"Worst day of your life, so far." Dustin says, which is the moment that Eddie decides he could in fact, bring himself to hit a child.

"Yeah just wait, it gets worse." Mike adds.

'Two children.' Eddie thinks in return, trying not to gape as Steve works in perfect unison with his abomination. He could hit two children and then himself, because fuck if he ever needed to know Steve was some sort of demonic-creature pet tamer!

'You're kind of a demonic creature. Think he could tame you?' His very unhelpful inner voice prompts and no, the children are definitely wrong--

So the moment he realizes things with Eddie are serious-serious, he doesn’t make a big speech or even breathe a word.

He just quietly opens a joint savings account.

Then a trust fund.

Lists himself as Eddie’s emergency contact.

Buys a gold ring (simple, tasteful, suspiciously the right size). He knows Eddie likes silver, but that's not what it's for. Gold is in any case an investment in the future, if something happens.

And—because, well, they’ve survived four apocalypses—he updates his will.

Steve wrote it after Apocalypse #2.

The BMW had been bought with his money and, should anything happen, was legally designated to go to Dustin.

Everything else—his personal savings, the shared funds, and whatever compensation the government might cough up for the next end-of-the-world scenario—was to go to Eddie.

Nobody knows this but Steve. It’s filed in a folder marked “just in case”.

Eddie, on the other hand, doesn’t do paperwork.

When he realizes things are serious, he gives Steve his favorite band t-short. Then changes the tires on Steve’s BMW from summer to winter without being asked. Fixes the bookshelf Steve’s been threatening to burn for a month. And starts making him sandwiches in the morning — the kind his mom used to make for him, with just the right amount of mustard and that one slice of tomato Steve always forgets he likes. Uses his entire vocabulary of cute nicknames on Steve and comes up with a couple of new ones.

Miraculously, it works.

so when steve goes to pick up derek for baseball practice one afternoon and overhears the kid in his room seemingly deep in conversation with another imaginary friend, he definitely starts to panic a bit. isn’t sure what to do - he contemplates calling nance but she’s off at emerson, joyce and hop are too busy with their new life together and the last thing steve wants to do is ruin their happy ending with something like this. for all he knows, this “mor” figure derek talks to really is nothing but an actual imaginary friend.

in any case, he levels with the kid, gives it to him straight. “i’m glad you can talk to mor, seriously, i am,” steve assures, and he can’t help the waves of jealousy from roiling low through his gut over someone who might not even actually exist, who he can’t see and who (he hopes) can’t see him. for all steve knows, he’s just being really, really paranoid right now - though he’s learned it’s better to be safe than sorry, when dealing with these kinds of things, and he needs derek to stay safe.

“just be careful,” steve continues, because for all his dipshit tendencies, derek’s still a kid and he’s still, on the whole, fairly innocent. “we don’t need another mr. whatsit situation. if mor is real, how can you be sure you can trust him?”

derek rolls his eyes, leans across the diner table to snatch a fry from the edge of steve’s plate. “i’m not a dumbass, steve, i know better with creeps like henry now.” he pops the fry into his mouth, chews, swallows, wipes the grease off his fingers onto his shirt which makes steve wrinkle his nose. “mor isn’t like that. and he is real, he knew henry, too. mor says henry is the reason he became master of reality in the first place.”

steve frowns - something about that phrasing itches at the back of his brain. “is that what mor stands for?” he asks, and his thoughts flit over to holly, to the others. “we should ask the other camazotz kids if they’ve seen him, too. if mor talks to you, maybe he’s spoken with them also.”

derek shrugs, seeming way too childishly nonchalant for steve’s tastes. “none of them have mentioned anything to me.” his young voice grows harder with conviction, cracking slightly in passion. something about it sorta reminds steve of himself, when he was that age. “besides,” derek continues. “mor says that henry’s a creepy-ass poser who can fuck himself a million times sideways, and i think that he’s right.”

“hey, watch it,” steve scowls and admonishes - whatever happened to suck my fat one? “of course he’s right, but you know how good vecna is at manipulation. he’s dead - he has to be - but how do we know this isn’t one last trick? one last nasty gift that he’s left for us to unwrap?” steve shakes his head. “i wanna be careful, man. we can never be too careful, and i really don’t need you getting hurt, or worse.”

derek takes a drink of his banana milkshake. the chewed end of the plastic straw slurps obnoxiously. “mor said you’d say that,” he solemnly responds. “he also said to tell you that he’s sorry.”

steve frowns, utterly thrown for a loop. “sorry? sorry for what?”

derek licks at his top lip to swipe away his whipped cream mustache, and the entire world seems to wrench crossways in steve’s head as derek says, casual as anything,

“for not listening. for being a hero.” he tilts his head to the side, like he could be listening for something - or someone. “he wants to know if you still have his vest, or if you gave it back to his uncle or to goodwill or some shit like that.”

and steve nearly passes out right there in the diner booth.

Make out ✅✅✅

Finally got around to finishing the SamBucky proposal comic!!

Inspired by the thought that a ring wouldnt work on buckys metal arm, so maybe Sam would get a whole new arm made with a ring integrated into it