Luna Maru's Goblin Den

Eddie thought he knew what he was signing up for when he'd hired Steve to dance at the Hellfire Club.

The tinge of attitude and little bit of sass-mouthing hadn't really been a red flag, especially not on someone as self-assured as Steve. The Omega knew how hot he was, and Eddie knew that the sexy, entitled brat schtick would pull a good amount of clientele.

He'd been right about that, and everything had been going exactly as Eddie expected— until Steve started turning that attitude onto Eddie himself. It was like he knew all of Eddie's buttons, knew exactly which ones to press to get the Alpha frustrated, to have him heated and wanting.

It didn't take long for Eddie to snap, something Steve seemed to revel in. Quickly after that, he pulled Steve from performing entirely.

Now Eddie sits at a VIP table, chatting with a few men who reached out, expressing their desire to invest in Eddie's side business. An Omega waitress sets a tray of drinks on the table, and Eddie thanks her as the three men openly ogle her.

He gets it, even if he's not interested— after all, the black bodysuits were chosen specifically to accentuate their servers' figures, to entice clients and encourage them to tip better.

"Your employees are very pretty, Mr. Munson. I would almost say moreso than other establishments we've visited," one of them says, and Eddie smiles as he takes a glass.

"The pretty ones want to work here because they know we take care of them. We keep them safe, make sure they're comfortable."

"That one must be your crowning jewel," the ringleader, an Alpha named Creel, says as he gestures over Eddie's shoulder. "Will he be dancing later?"

Eddie glances behind him and spots Steve leaning against the bar, chatting with the bartender. He's wearing a bodysuit similar to the waitress, but in a soft baby pink. The ruffled bustle attached to his backside and feather adorned on his head are eye-catching, pulling the attention of the people around him— attention that Steve lives for, that Eddie only puts up with because he knows that Steve is his.

"Oh, no," he replies as he faces forward again. "Steve doesn't dance."

Creel looks amused, and says "Oh, come on. Why not? I'm sure plenty of people would pay handsomely to see him up there, myself included."

Eddie bites back a retort and simply calls out a "Stevie!"

Moments later, a hand settles on his shoulder and Eddie grabs it, tugging him closer. He can pinpoint the exact moment Creel spots the mating mark on Steve's neck, and resists the urge to puff up in pride over his mate.

"Sweetheart, will you tell Mr. Creel why you don't dance anymore?"

Steve smiles sweetly as he leans into Eddie's side, their fingers lacing together. "Because my Alpha is a jealous bastard who can't stand me being on display like that."

"Mhmm. And what is your job now, baby?"

The smile shifts into a sharp grin as Steve flashes his little Omegan fangs. "I walk around, look pretty, and make sure people keep their grabby hands off the staff."

"And you're so good at it," Eddie says as he presses a kiss to the back of Steve's hand. "You can go back now, sweetheart. Sorry for bothering you."

Steve giggles and says "I don't mind, Alpha," before he's turning away, hand slipping from Eddie's as he goes back into the crowd. The ruffled monstrosity on his backside bounces with every movement, and Eddie smiles, knowing how happy the frilly thing makes him.

"He certainly is something," Creel says, pulling Eddie's attention back to him. "I can see why you snatched him up."

"Steve is the love of my life," Eddie says with a tight, sharp smile, a statement and a warning that Creel must take, because he nods.

"Pity."

Fucking bastard.

"Why don't we enjoy the show a little," one of the other men says, clearly sensing the rising tension, "then we can discuss our business."

This friendship is pretty new.

Steve's not really sure why it even exists but he likes this loud opinionated kid. He likes that Dustin is too smart for his own good and a little rude sometimes, but - "You don't cook? Like at all. And you're twelve?"

"Why would I cook?"" He asks. "My mom cooks. It's kinda her job to feed me."

"You just said that she's been working more hours to send you to summer camp and," He gestures to the money on the table. "You're sick of pizza. You've got a stocked kitchen. You can make your own food."

Dustin is just like, "Yeah, no thanks."

Smartest kid in America and he can't cook. He's completely uninterested in learning and - "You don't even have a microwave!"

"Uh, yeah??? You ever hear of radiation?? People go blind looking through the little window, you know."

Steve leaves that night with a wave to Mrs Henderson as she gets off work and a frown on his face. He pushes the thought down with all the other anxieties he ignores and never thinks of it again.

Until a couple days later when he's bullied into helping fix the Byers' place back up and they don't have a microwave either!

He doesn't realize that he's bitching about it or how long he's been bitching until Jonathan snaps at him that not everyone has money like him to buy appliances they don't need.

Steve kinda just...

"It'd be convenient," Hopper says offhandedly before Steve can think to reply. He turns to Joyce, "I think I have an old one somewhere you could use."

junicorn

day 17

"You're not being arrested," The agent in front of them repeats for the hundredth time. "You're not being interrogated. This isn't an interrogation. It's an interview. We're gathering information on what happened tonight."

"That's what I'd say if I was interrogating someone," Steve shrugs. He turns to Robin and says, "That's how they get you."

"We're not trying to 'get you,' we-"

"They want to frame up for the mall burning down," Robin accuses. "You think you're so smart with your mind tricks. Well, we solved a Russian code with-"

"Robin."

"Oh," She's stops. Narrows her eyes. "Tricky."

"You already told us about the - what did you call it? The Mind Flayer."

"The flesh monster."

"Yes."

"We signed an NDA about upside down bullshit already so we talked about it. This is different. Duh."

Robin echoes, "Duh."

"Okay," The agent says. "Just tell up what happened when you were underground and-"

"Not without a lawyer."

The agent sighs.

The agent thinks they should've went to nursing school like their mother wanted.

The agent thinks the lord above that Mr Harrington and Miss Buckley's lawyer - Mr Harrington (father) - finally finished filling out his paperwork.

Steve's father looks pissed right up until he sees his son beaten half to hell. He opens his mouth to ask what the fuck happened when Steve turns to the agent.

Shane and Ilya are obviously hunkering down at the cottage together. There's no hockey, but they don't know for how long, so they're still training all the time. They're doing interviews and having to make it look like they're in completely different places. Ilya has to keep being reminded that he's supposed to still be back in Ottawa.

Ilya's teammates keep asking if they can be in a lockdown bubble together and he's gotta be like "No, can't do that. I'm not taking any chances." But now they're worried because he hasn't seen or been around another human being in months and they've noticed that even before lockdown he made more jokes about killing himself than the average person, so they're stressed to their eyeballs about his mental health.

Meanwhile Ilya's living the kind of domestic fantasy with his man that he didn't think they were going to get until retirement. For the first time ever most days he can truly pretend that he and Shane are the only people in the world. Sometimes David and Yuna come over for dinner because they are also isolating at their cottage. But most of the time it's just endless hours of just the two of them and neither of them could be happier. Their biggest decision every day is when and where to fuck. Some people are getting into sourdough – Shane and Ilya have committed to learning one new sexual position every day.

#okay but them coming out to Ilya's team because like his team is concerned and maybe Shane and Ilya go back to Ilya’s ottawa house to get a#grocery delivery that they can't get out at the cottage and the doorbell rings and Shane goes to get it and its bood and hayes standing 6#feet from the door with like a care package for ilya and they're like “ilya said he was isolating alone” and shane is there in boxers and a#raiders 81 sweater like “....um....”

Ilya appears behind him, also in boxers and Shane's Canada fleece, and he looks over to where Bood and Hayes' jaws are practically on the floor, and flashes them an apologetic smile. But internally he's also like fuck, fuck, fuck, Shane doesn't want to come out or be out yet fuck they've fucked it. So he starts like, "So however weird your lockdown stories are, it can't be as weird as ours."

And Shane puts a hand on his arm to stop him, and is like "You can tell them the truth about us, baby, it's okay."

“Lesson #2 endurance: persistent Hunting”

I headcanon that Eridians, tho fast sprinters, haven’t evolved to be long distance runners because of their cardiovascular system. So seeing a human run easily for more than a couple of minutes freaks them out.

Also Huge Thanks for all the love on my last post!! I’ll definitely be making this into a series!!

Which is nice.

It's an objectively kind thing to do...except that Steve was drunk and slurring his words.

He didn't say Eddie.

He was admitting to having weirdly sexual dreams about the twenty-sixth US president, Teddy Roosevelt.

Hopper has grown to accept that he will not have an uninterrupted lunch until this unattended five year old goes to college because, "Hello?"

"Hi," Steve says. "I went to your house and I didn't see no microwave. Did you know I went to your house?"

"Yes."

"You weren't there 'cause you were at work," He informs him. "I think you should get a microwave."

"I got this for you," Steve says before dumping what looks like six dollars and some change on the table. "It'll help."

Hopper frowns, "Help with what?"

"Getting a microwave," He sighs. "Do you know how to listen?"

"Kid-"

"Baby Sara is too little to use the stove," Steve says. "I know that 'cause I’m not allowed to use the stove and I’m bigger than her."

Well. "...What?"

"Tommy - he's my best friend, 'member? - he's older than me and even he's not allowed to use the stove," Steve continues. "And Tommy don't have a microwave neither but it's okay 'cause his mom lives there all day and he's got a lot of big brothers that can use the stove. Sara doesn't have a big brother 'cept for me, kinda, and I can't-"

"Can't use the stove, got it."

"Right," He nods. "That's why you need a microwave. So Sara won't be hungry."

"Sara is never hungry," Hopper says slowly. "If she is, I get her something to eat."

"You work a lot."

"She also has a mother."

"Well, sometimes mamas heads hurt and they can't make food or they'll throw up," Steve says. "Sometimes mamas are busy too and then Sara's gonna be really hungry. She might cry."

Hopper pushes the rest of his fries across the table to the kid before asking, "Are you hungry a lot when you're at home?"

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