MNtallyUndone

“I was gonna go to the Hammond place as that’s the last safe house we had,” Hopper growled.

Robin shook her head. “That’s no good, both Creel and Kay know about it.”

“Well where do you suggest?!” Hopper shouted.

“Head to the radio station,” Will said, eyes wide. “We need to get up to pierce the Upside Down and place to hide out until we can formulate a plan to do just that. So it’s a win/win.”

Titus and Kali just shrugged. They had no idea where that was.

“Are you sure?” Joyce asked. “Because one wrong move and the whole world is toast.”

Will nodded.

“We’re headed for Shangri-la, do you read?” Robin said into the walkie walkie.

“Shangri-La,” Steve repeated. “Roger that. Over and Out.”

Kali tilted her head to the side. “Why did you call the radio station Shangri-La?”

Robin just smiled. “Where else would paradise be but a place where I could be me?”

~

Robin and Will were up on the radio tower trying to make it as secure as they could before everyone joined them because the last thing they needed was one of their last avenues of communication to go down.

“What did you mean about this place being the only place you could be yourself?” Will asked as he and Robin were putting up more railings.

“I think I’m more Babel Tower these days then I am Robin Buckley,” she explained. “Robin Buckley is a loud mouth band geek with few friends and no love life. But here, as Babel Tower?” She indicated around her. “I can be the badass monster hunter with a girlfriend and some of the tightest bonds a friendship could have.”

Will’s head shot up. “Holy shit. You have a girlfriend?”

She stopped for a moment as her brain caught up to her mouth. “Oh oops!”

“Am I the first person you’ve told?” Will asked excitedly. “I mean other than your girlfriend?”

Robin shook her head. “Other people know.”

“Like you don’t have to worry about people hearing it from me,” he assured her. “I’m... well. Similar but different.”

She blinked for a moment. “Oh! That makes a lot of sense actually.”

“Who was the first person you told?” he asked shyly, looking away and twisting his hands together.

Robin started going down the ladder to get more supplies. “Oh that’s easy. Steve.”

Will came to a stop for a moment and tilted his head to the side. “What like our Steve? Steve Harrington?”

“Yep!” she said still continuing to go down the ladder. “It felt really good after telling him. He was actually kind of sweet about.” She paused for a moment before half shrugging. “But like after he made fun of my for crushing on Tammy Thompson.”

Will rushed to the ladder and looked down at her. “But like the one thing Jonathan is always griping about is how Steve called me a fag when I was missing and that Jonathan beat the shit out of him for it.”

Robin paused on the ladder and then looked up at him. “People change, Will. They can change. We have to believe that otherwise what’s the point?”

Will thought about Vecna and then he thought about his friends. They had changed so much from when they were kids. Mostly because of the trauma. But also deeper than that. The way Lucas wouldn’t put up with the shit about his race anymore. The way Mike grew beyond being “the leader” and started letting the others help out. The way Dustin became darker in the wake of Eddie’s death.

Not all the changes were good or better. But they had changed.

“Yeah okay,” he muttered. “Is Steve–” he cut himself off and then shook his head. “I don’t need to know that actually.”

Robin grinned at him and then continued down the ladder, Will following suit.

Once they were both on solid ground, Robin put both her hands on his shoulders.

“For what it’s worth,” she told him gently, “telling the people you love who are is the most freeing thing in the world. No matter what they think, because even if they react badly it means that they never loved you and that’s worth knowing too.”

Will let out a deep sigh and then nodded. He would try it out with his family first. After all they were all here. All but El, anyway.

He opened his mouth to say that, but closed it again. Then he started to move past her when he got the urge to hug her.

Robin huffed out a laugh as he put his arms around her and murmured ‘thank you.’

“You deserve to be happy, no matter what that looks like to you,” she murmured back.

Will nodded and ran off.

She shook her head and got to work again. The world was ending and she didn’t have time for pleasantries.

But she did look up once and saw how Will’s family was was hugging him and crying. Happy tears from Will’s big smile on his face. Good. That was how it was supposed to be.

A few minutes later, Kali and Titus were out there, helping her.

“Are they always that mushy?” Titus asked after a few moments.

Robin straightened up and looked at the happy scene the Byers and Hopper were having and then back at the two numbered experiments.

“Some people can stay soft no matter how hard life gets for them,” she muttered as she started packing up the tools.

Kali and Titus shared a glance and then they both shook their heads.

“Look, I can’t say I understand what you guys went through,” Robin huffed. “The experiments, the escape, the living on the streets not know who to trust, but shit was hard here too. So many more people have died since you guys left. Good and the bad. But you don’t get to look down on us for finding a way to survive that didn’t take our softness with it.”

She jutted her thumb back at the radio station. “Especially not that boy. He’s been experimented on too. Because Creel or One or Vecna, whatever you call his scaly ass, kidnapped him and has been chasing him for three years.”

Kali and Titus shared another look. They had been told all this on the way over. It was all just so hard to believe.

“What would One want with him anyway?” Titus huffed, rolling his eyes. “Other than the powers that, I’m assuming One gave him in the first place, I don’t see what’s so special about him.”

Robin raised an eyebrow and the guy had the decency to blush.

“Because he’s like me, isn’t he?” Kali said tilting her head to the side. “He had powers outside of the blood experiments like the others; like Ollie, and Titus, and El. He’s not like them, he’s an outlier.”

“That’s the theory,” Robin confirmed. “He sees the rest of the numbered experiments as inferior because they only have powers because of his blood. But Will? Will lasted in the Upside Down for a week. There is some speculation Will wasn’t the first, only the only successful.”

“He lured other children into the Upside Down and then when they didn’t survive he moved on to the next candidate?” Titus said with a shiver. “That sick bastard.”

Robin nodded. “Agreed. Which is why we appreciate you coming to town to help his kick his scaly ass to hell where it belongs.”

There was the rumbling of cars and a very ragtag group of people stumbled out of the assembled vehicles.

“That bastard!” Nancy spit the second her feet touched the ground. “He sent demogorgons after the parents who were at the house trying to get rid of them!”

Robin, Kali and Titus ran up to them.

“Is everyone okay?” Robin asked, turning to Steve.

Steve shook his head. “Ted and Karen were beat up pretty bad, and one of the other parents died.” He looked over at Nancy. “We don’t know who she was.”

“I think she was the mom of one Holly’s friends,” Nancy muttered. “Lanester, Lancaster, something like that.”

“That’s awful,” Joyce said coming up to the assembled group. “That poor family.”

“Both my mom and dad are in the hospital and Mike promised Dad that he would get Holly back,” she continued. “One I fully backed. So what’s the plan?”

“That’s what we’re all here for,” Dustin huffed. “We need to get to the Upside Down and stop Vecna before the two worlds merge.”

“Only we can’t get to the Upside Down,” Lucas growled, “because somehow he’s figured out how to stop El from creating a gate.”

“What?!” Kali shouted. “Then what the hell is she even good for?!”

“Hey!” Mike snapped. “I’m getting really sick of you acting so high and mighty for having escaped and left her behind! You know god damn well if it wasn’t for El banishing One to the Upside Down you wouldn’t have been able to do that! So either get your head out of your ass and realize that’s she is STILL only a kid and fucking help us or get the fuck out OUR town!”

Kali was so shocked her head rocked back as if she had been slapped. She staggered backward and then turned on her heel and stormed off.

Ollie and Titus shared a glance. Then Ollie nodded.

“Even we think that Kali is being unreasonable about all this,” she murmured. “We want to help, even if she doesn’t come back.”

Steve tilted his head to the side. “Let me go talk to her.” Every head turned to him in a snap. He just held up his hands. “I think know what’s bothering her.”

Titus shrugged. “I say he try. If he fucks it further, she was already going to leave. Kali wouldn’t do anything to harm people here.”

“We don’t have time for this!” Hopper growled.

“You’ve got someone else who can banish Vecna’s illusions?” Dustin barked back. “Because without that we can’t tell what is real and what’s not!”

Hopper’s head jerked back in shock. He hadn’t thought about that. “Shit.”

“We need her help,” El said with a sigh. She had woken up with the attack on the parents. She still wasn’t fully recovered and that’s why the one mom died. But she could feel her energy sources slowly coming back up.

Max looked around. “Wait, where did Steve go?”

Erica burst out laughing. “While you asshole were fighting about whether or not he should go talk to her, he just went and did it.”

People just shuffled uncomfortably as they waited, but they didn’t have to wait long. About a few minutes later Steve came back with Kali in tow. But both of them refused to say what they talked about.

They gathered in the basement of the radio station and discussed plans. To everyone’s surprise it was Steve’s plan that made the most sense, even Steve’s. Albeit with some crude comments from the peanut gallery about the size of his dick.

Then they all ate and took turns resting.

Dustin pulled Steve aside in the middle of all this and asked, “Hey can I talk to you for a minute?”

Steve nodded and followed him into the hall.

“It’s about Eddie...” Dustin began, folding his arms and looking down at his feet. “Do you think it’s really him? The one you saw in the Void?”

Yeah, Steve really should have seen that one coming. “I don’t know, bud. I want to believe he is, but it’s far more likely he’s not.”

Dustin nodded. “I don’t want to believe it either, but I can’t keep the hope down. It crops up again just when I think I’ve convinced myself it can’t be him. It can’t be Eddie.”

Steve pulled him to him and gave him a big hug. “I want to believe so bad that he’s real and that we can save him, but I know that if I dare to hope and it’s not real, I won’t survive that.”

Dustin wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist and held on tight.

“I blame him sometimes,” Steve murmured into Dustin’s hair. “That he should have run. That both of you should have run. Ran for Max’s trailer instead of Eddie trying to buy us more time.”

“But he saved me!” Dustin wailed. “He saved me!”

“I know,” Steve whispered, “I know. But I told you two not to be heroes. Hell, getting up to the real world trailer and throwing a Molotov cocktail into the open gate would have give you two enough time to run for cover.”

Dustin looked up at him in stunned silence. “Well shit.”

They really should have thought about that, shouldn’t they?

“I’m sorry, Steve,” he whispered. “We knew the bats were going to be focused on us. That was the plan. But we didn’t come up with proper exit strategy for when it went sideways and that’s on us. But I think he wanted to be a hero. To sacrifice himself because he thought he should have died instead of Chrissy. And you were the only one who noticed.”

Steve just held him tight, tears running down his face.

“You’re the only one whoever notices,” Dustin continued. “You noticed Max back in the cemetery. You noticed Lucas pulling away before that. You’re the big brother we all need, but we treat you so badly and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Steve!”

“We’ll make it through,” Steve muttered. “We have to.”

~

Tag List: TEN TAG SLOTS REMAINING

1- @after-the-end-times @ollieolive @zerokrox-blog @gregre369 @maya-custodios-dionach

2- @yikes-a-bee @swimmingbirdrunningrock @sadisticaltarts @gloomysoup @dragon-on-main

3- @wonderland-girl143-blog @kultiras @val-from-lawrence @dolphincliffs @useless-nb-bisexual

4- @bookworm0690 @emeraldzephyr @dreamercec @awkwardgravity1 @saint-of-roses

5- @stedestielfrattficlover @ellietheasexylibrarian @disrespectedgoatman @carlyv @rina777

6- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @ravenfrog @steddieislife @kroymu09 @lost-andstill-lost

7- @mentallyundone @beelze-the-bubkiss @samsoble @mensch-anthropos-human @stripey82

“This man has a rap sheet that is longer than my arm,” Judge Newby barked back. “His own son was removed from his custody three times for abuse. It’s an accurate depiction, counselor.”

“The law is for reunification,” she pointed out primly.

“At my discretion,” he said firmly. “And frankly sending Max Mayfield back to her former stepfather’s care is a death sentence I refuse to give a twelve year old.”

“Your honor!” Miss Fraser protested.

“I am awarding temporary custody to the state of Indiana,” Judge Newby said, ignoring her protests. “And I am requesting that Mrs. Hargrove take a good hard look at the future she wants to give her daughter and give up parental right all together. This in and out of prison is not good for the welfare of the child and as I understand it your client won’t be able for even parole until the child is eighteen, is that correct?”

“Yes, your honor.” Miss Fraser sat down hard. She knew she had lost.

Sue looked back at Max in the gallery and then back at the judge. “I’ll sign away my rights right now if you have a pen and paper.”

There was some quiet muttering from the gallery.

“Are you certain, Susan?” Miss Fraser asked. “You don’t have to do this. We can continue to push of reunification.”

Sue shook her head. “No. I need to do this. The judge is right. Max deserves every chance to excel and she can’t do that with me as her mother.”

Miss Fraser nodded and took out the appropriate document. She handed it to Sue, who promptly signed at the bottom after a quick scan to make sure it was the right one. She handed it to the bailiff who then brought it to Judge Newby.

“The court thanks you, Mrs. Hargrove for your sacrifice,” he said solemnly. “The custody of Maxine Mayfield will be released into the hands of the Hawkins Hope House until further notice. The next hearing will be in two months to decide where she is to be placed. Court dismissed.”

Steve and Robin leapt to their feet cheering while Max just sat there in stunned silence. She couldn’t believe it. She wasn’t going to Neil’s. She was going to stay with Steve for at least two months.

As her mom was being lead away to be taken back to prison, Max ran to her and hugged her tight. “Thank you!”

Sue kissed the top of her head. “Come see me once in a while, yeah?”

“I’ll try,” Max murmured and then allowed Steve to pull her away.

“Take care of my baby,” Sue told Steve.

Steve nodded and then led Max away, back to where Robin was waiting for them.

“Let’s get some ice cream to celebrate!” Robin said, tussling her hair. “I’ll call the Hope House and see if Chrissy could bring Dustin for a little cheering up too.”

“Do we have to bring him?” Max whined. “He’s either super mopey about his dad dying or he’s talking about D&D, there is no in between.”

“Be nice,” Steve admonished. “He’s just trying to get you interested in what he likes.”

“It’s boring,” Max said bluntly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “The only good thing about that stupid game is that it means Lucas comes over all the time.”

Robin and Steve shared a surprised glance over her head. That was certainly a new development.

“How about a compromise?” Steve suggested. “We go out for ice cream and bring Dustin, Chrissy and Eddie some after we’ve had ours?”

Max tapped her lips for a moment, cocking her head to the side. “That is acceptable. We get the treat first and they don’t get mad at us.”

“Great!” Robin said, clapping her hands. “I’ll give the House a call and find out what they want and I’ll meet you guys at the car!”

“Sounds great!” Steve said and steered Max toward the car, both of them happily chatting about the outcome of the hearing.

They didn’t have long to wait before Robin came bursting out of the courthouse. She ran over to Steve’s car and yanked open the passenger seat, sliding in.

“Move it, dingus!” she huffed. “Max’s mom’s lawyer is on a war path and she gunning for you and me.”

Steve let out a pained sigh and shifted into gear, pulling out of the parking lot. “What did she want?”

“She tried to say that the cessation of parental rights was invalid because it was obviously done under duress and she was going to sue us and Judge Newby,” Robin explained.

Max scoffed in the backseat. “That’s just bullshit! It was the right thing to do! She just wants to try to squeeze more money from Mom and Neil.”

Robin whipped around to look her in the eye. “Wait I thought Regina Fraser was a public defender.”

Max shook her head. “Maybe she started out that way, but nope! Neil’s been paying her for awhile now.”

“Well that explains why she was pushing so hard to have Neil take custody of you!” Steve crowed. “That bitch!”

Robin mumbled her agreement. “She can’t win of course, especially since Sue wouldn’t pursue it. Neil might but it would be tied up for months even years and hopefully by then you would have been placed with a family all your own.”

“I wish Steve could adopt me...” Max muttered under breath.

Robin and Steve looked at each and shook their heads. They wished that too. But they doubted that the state would allow her to stay at Hope House not with all the coming and goings of people of every stripe.

“Me too, Maxie,” he murmured back. “Me too.”

~

They arrived back at the Hawkins Hope house just before dinner, bringing ice cream for the people at the House and burgers for all.

“I’m not sure I can eat burgers from elsewhere,” Eddie said as Steve handed him his, “it might be a conflict of interest or some shit.”

Robin snorted. “As if we would get shakes and burgers from anywhere but Benny’s? That would be a sacrilege.”

Eddie opened up his burger and then nodded. “Rightly so.”

Steve handed out everyone’s burgers, handing Max hers last. “Here you go, Miss Californian Girl. One Cali burger just for you.”

Dustin peered over Max’s shoulder to see what the fuss was about.

“I just like it this way,” she huffed, taking a bite and smiling happily.

Dustin looked at her burger and then over at Eddie. “So what’s in it?”

“It’s one patty with Colby Jack cheese, sliced avocado and Chipotle ranch,” Eddie said with a shrug. “It’s pretty popular, so Benny keeps it around.”

“But that doesn’t sound like a burger at all,” Dustin protested. “Where’s the ketchup and the American cheese? The tomato and mustard? You can’t go wrong with a classic!”

Steve looked over at Robin and lifted his eyebrow at her. “You want to tell him your burger order, Missy.”

Robin stuck out her tongue at him. “It’s just cheese, ketchup, and mayo. No veggies at all.”

“That’s horrible!” Dustin complained. “At least Max has a vegetable. What is wrong with you people?”

“I like mine with caramelized onions, lettuce, pepperjack cheese, and ranch,” Chrissy said with a shrug. “I think everyone has different preferences and that’s okay.”

But Dustin didn’t want to let it go. “What about you and Eddie?” he asked rounding on Steve. “What are you burgers like?”

“Oh, mine’s an everything burger,” Eddie said with a grin. “Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, three different cheeses, two patties, and drenched in all the sauces, ketchup, mayo, mustard, relish. Oh and for an extra punch I throw on three slices of bacon just to get that extra crunch.”

“That is the most unhinged thing I’ve every heard,” Max said with her eyes wide. “That’s wicked!”

“I have ketchup, mayo, mustard, cheddar cheese, and bacon,” Steve said with a shrug. “I don’t like warm veggies that should be cold.”

Dustin threw his hands up in the air. “I give up with you lot. None of you are normal!”

“Sounds great to me,” Eddie said around a bit of burger. “I never wanted to be like anyone else. Like sure, finding people who like the same things I do is good, because everyone needs a tribe, but pass me on that conformity bullshit.”

Dustin blinked up at him for a moment. “So you’re saying it’s good everyone likes something different?”

“Right in one, kid!” Eddie said ruffling his hair.

Dustin turned a bright pink and it took every ounce of will power Steve had not to giggle.

~

Steve was running out of time for Max. He needed find someone who would be willing to foster her so that he could start the process of being made her official guardian. And he only had two weeks to do it.

But the people he trusted to not traumatize her further couldn’t take her in at this time and he just couldn’t leave her to the system.

Far too many foster parents were only in it for the pay check they got for taking the kid in and that meant abuses that would make the Geneva Convention gasp in shock and horror.

The one good thing that had come out of the whole mess so far was that no judge would hear Regina Fraser’s lawsuit against the Hawkins Hope House for manipulating Sue Hargrove into giving up her rights to Max.

“And you’re sure Joyce can’t take her?” Chrissy asked for the billionth time.

Steve shook his head. “For the same reason I can’t. Conflict of interest. And if I don’t find someone willing to take her before school starts, Judge Newby will have no choice but to put her in the system.”

“That’s just bullshit,” Robin cursed. “You should be able to keep her here! This is where all her friends are! Which is amazing, she’s making any to begin with!”

He let out a pained sigh. He knew all this. He had been letting it rotate in his head like a washer stuck in the spin cycle. But he didn’t have anymore answers today then he did almost five months ago since Max had been brought to the House.

Just then the door opened, the bell above heralding the man’s arrival.

He was in his mid to late forties with weathered appearance of a man who had worked hard his whole life and loved every minute of it.

“Hi!” Steve greeted cheerfully. “I’m Steve and welcome to Hawkins Hope House. How can I help you today?”

The man chuckled. “Oh good, I have the right place. Hi Steve, I’m here to see my nephew.”

Steve frowned, he didn’t remember Dustin having an uncle. Because then he would have been placed in the man’s care instead of here.

“That’s sweet,” he said instead. “Can I get your name please?”

The man burst out laughing. “He said you lot were tight lipped, but I guess I never really put much stock in it.”

Steve’s frown deepened. He was even less sure about this whole thing with each passing moment.

“I’m afraid we have to be,” he explained. “We get some battered spouses and abused kids we don’t want to give any information to the wrong person and get them hurt or worse.”

The man cocked his head to the side. “That is very wise. And no doubt a lesson learned the hard way.”

“Sad but true,” he acknowledged solemnly.

Just then Eddie came tearing down the stairs. “I thought that was your truck!” he cried, running straight into the arms of the old man.

It was slowly dawning on Steve who this was.

“What are you doing here, you old rascal?!” Eddie said pulling back from the hug to look the man in the eyes.

“I’m here to see your scaly white ass,” the man huffed.

“Uncle Wayne!” Eddie crowed, confirming it for him. “There are civilized people present!”

Oh yeah, Steve was screwed.

1- @after-the-end-times @lost-andstill-lost @zerokrox-blog @gregre369 @maya-custodios-dionach

2- @yikes-a-bee @swimmingbirdrunningrock @sadisticaltarts @gloomysoup @mrsjellymunson

3- @wonderland-girl143-blog @kultiras @val-from-lawrence @dolphincliffs @dust-in-the-internet

4- @bookworm0690 @emeraldzephyr @dreamercec @awkwardgravity1 @micheledawn1975

5- @stedestielfrattficlover @useless-nb-bisexual @rina777 @mentallyundone @kroymu09

6- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @ravenfrog @steddieislife @stripey82 @saint-of-roses

7- @beelze-the-bubkiss @samsoble @mensch-anthropos-human @ollieolive @blackpanzy

8- @blisschaoss @carlyv @ellietheasexylibrarian @disrespectedgoatman @warlordess

He finally got into the venue feeling a little stretched thin. He looked around and let out a pained sigh. He didn’t see Eddie or Elise anywhere. They were all seated together, but he couldn’t see them in the densely packed crowd.

The crowd parted and Steve let out a little gasp. There was Joyce Byers. She recently done a sequel to a Tim Burton movie and she was nominated tonight. She spotted him and made a beeline straight for him.

Steve frozen where he was. Someone as famous as Joyce Byers knew who he was. This was more terrifying than any audition ever.

“Steve Harrington,” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “Right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he managed to croak out. “I don’t think there is a person in this room who doesn’t know who you are.”

She blushed and waved her hand at him. “Flatterer!”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that’s not hyperbole or an exaggeration and you know it.”

Joyce’s smile went from shy to sly. “So all the rumors that you’re just a dumb bunny aren’t true, noted.”

“My parents have tried a lot of things to sully my name,” Steve said with a shrug. “That one was the one that stuck.”

Her face and shoulders fell. “I did hear about that, honey. I’m so sorry about how you were treated. I’m glad you were able to overcome all that and still act. I’m not sure I would have had that been me.”

He smiled at her. “All thanks to Robin Buckley and her parents. Owe them so much.”

“Richard was such a charmer back in the day,” Joyce said wistfully. “And Robin definitely gets that from him.”

“And she knows it,” Steve said with a grin.

“I just want to congratulate on that absolutely sublime of a film you did with her,” she said with bright smile, putting her hand on his forearm. “If they have any sense in their head, all three of you will win tonight.”

“Thank you for that,” Steve said, positively beaming. “We all know that there is very little sense in Hollywood. It’s practically embedded in its DNA.”

Joyce laughed. “That certainly true. But there was another reason I came over. Are you familiar with the film critic, Nancy Wheeler?”

He frowned. “A bit. She was the one who broke the story of my being caught in the back of a limo with a producer back in the day. I don’t have very fond feelings toward her for that. Even if she thought she was doing her job.”

She nodded grimly. “She’s friends with my Jonathan and I happened to overhear an argument they were having over her next article for Variety.”

“Uh oh,” Steve said darkly. “That can’t be good.”

“No,” Joyce said with a grimace. “She’s writing a piece about how only people of LBGTQ+ people should play those roles and that in this day and age actors don’t have the ‘problems’ getting non-gay roles these days, therefore they should just come out.”

Steve let out a pained sigh. “Going after Eddie for not being gay and going after me for playing to ‘type’ in the same breath. That is some extra kind of fuckery.”

“Agreed,” she murmured. “I was looking for Eddie to tell him, but I spotted you first. Jon was really upset about it, especially since I’m currently dating Jim.”

“So he was looking out for his mom’s boyfriend,” Steve surmised. “Because that kind of backlash would absolutely blow back on the movie itself.” She nodded. “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll pass it along and let my agent know we’ll need to get out ahead of this.”

“Of course,” Joyce murmured. “I’ve told Jim and if you tell Eddie then we can all avoid this unpleasantness.”

Steve thanked her and then set off for where his seat was supposed to be, and thankfully Robin and Eddie were already there.

He gave each of them a hug as a greeting but when he hugged Eddie, he whispered, “There’s something I need to talk to you about of the ceremony.”

Eddie just nodded and they all sat down for the award show, Steve sitting between the two of them.

The lights dimmed and the comedian hired to host immediately started in on the jokes. Making everyone they could vaguely uncomfortable and being asinine.

Steve grimaced through the butt jokes about a couple of queer movies including their own. He really hated those kind of jokes because there were plenty of people on both sides of the aisle that enjoyed it and making it a joke only served to further stigmatize it from someone who might actually enjoy it from trying it.

First up was Steve for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

“And the winner is...” said the rail thin blonde who looked only vaguely familiar. “Steve Harrington- ‘Dancing in the Dark’!”

Eddie and Robin were pounding on his back and congratulating him. He went up to stage and took the award from her.

“Wow,” he breathed. “There are a lot of awards worth having, but I think the greatest one you can get is when your own peers see the work you do as worthy. So thank you. Also thank you to my best friend and best director an actor could ever dream of, Robin Buckley, my co-star Eddie Munson, you make my work better just being who you are, Richard Buckley for giving me the chance, and to all the cast and crew who all came out of this movie with a hatred of Karo syrup and red dye.” He raised the award and then repeated, “Thank you!”

There was thunderous applause and he was carefully lead away as someone slipped into his empty seat.

He was brought back stage and the award was whisked away and he was given a heavier actual award that he was told to get engraved later. Then he was shoved in front of cameras and interviewers as they shouted questions at him.

“What do you say to rumors that you are dating your co-star, Eddie Munson?” was the first shouted question.

Steve burst out laughing. “God, if you believed every rumor about Eddie’s dating life, he’ll have had seventeen boyfriends and forty-two girlfriends in the last three years alone. Give it up, guys. He’s never going to come out and tell you who he’s dating and frankly, you won’t hear it from me either.”

“That’s not a no,” the interviewer said wagging their eyebrows.

“It’s a ‘none of your business’,” Steve insisted.

“Steve!” another interview called. “What’s next for you?”

Steve looked over and smiled. It was Veronica Stiles. The interviewer who had threatened to eviscerate anyone who asked him the hair question again.

“I’ve got a busy and packed schedule coming up,” he said with a smile. “I just wrapped up ‘Black, No Sugar’ with Jim Hopper and I’m on my way to play video game heartthrob and swashbuckler Billy the Blackheart. Then if all goes well you might be seeing me in tight spandex soon.”

“Oooh...” Veronica cooed. “Any hints on who it might be? Like DC or Marvel?”

Steve just smiled and shook his head. “My lips are sealed.”

There were a few more questions and then he was allowed to finally go back to his seat, award in hand.

Eddie shook his shoulder in excitement and grinned back at him.

There were a few more awards and then it was time for Best Leading Actor in Motion Picture. Steve reached out and took Eddie’s hand. Win or lose, Steve would still be proud of Eddie’s work on the film.

“And the winner goes to...” the presenter said, tugging at the envelope. “Gosh, they sure do seal these things tight.”

Eddie’s knee started jumping up and down from the sheer amount of suspense.

“And the winner goes to, Billy Hargrove- ‘Light of an Alaskan Dawn’!” she screamed.

There was a bunch of clapping and Eddie looked up at the camera as it passed over him, his disappointment evident on his face. Billy’s movie was pure awards bait and everyone knew it. It was an one-man epic about a man struggling with depression during the six months of no light in Alaska and how like the sun, he eventually came back around.

Steve leaned over and whispered something in Eddie’s ear that made him burst out laughing just as Billy passed them.

Billy shot the two of them a dirty look, but wisely said nothing as he got up to give his acceptance speech. He spoke about how meaningful the movie was and how grateful he was for the opportunity.

Steve wanted to gag, it was all too much. And likely too fake, too.

The music began as Billy waffled through his speech, so he raised his award and then was led off stage.

Robin gave them a strange look, but continued the rest of the show ignoring them.

She cornered them both and demanded to know what Steve said to Eddie that made him burst out laughing.

Steve shook his head. “I’ll tell you after I tell you what Joyce Byers told me before the show, because wooboy are we going to need something light to brighten the mood.” And then he explained her warnings.

“Did you hurt Nancy Wheeler in a former life or something?” Eddie asked with a scoff. “Dated her brother? Something, anything.”

Steve actually grimaced. “Not her brother, no. But our parents were friends and they set us up, I think her parents thought that dating a movie star would get her into places she wouldn’t have otherwise. Then when she cheated on me with...” he let out a pained sigh.

“Jonathan Byers,” Robin finished for him. “Though in Jon’s defense, she told him they had broken up when they had sex. They even dated for awhile before Jon found out about the cheating.”

“Holy shit,” Eddie hissed. “I would have dumped her too. My uncle always said never date a cheater because how they got you is how they’ll get the next one.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, that what he said his mom said, too. Then of course Jon leaving her was my fault so she stalked me for awhile to try prove that it wasn’t her fault she cheated.”

“Oof,” Eddie muttered shaking his head. “So what, is she anti-LQBTQ now?”

Robin snorted. “That would hypocritical of her considering she’s got her own girlfriend, but it’s more that she’s gone down the leftist rabbit hole of only disabled people should play disabled people, trans people should play trans, gay should play gay... etc.”

Eddie’s eyes went wide. “It’s dickheads like her that made that one British actor come out as bi after playing a bi teenager. Like the kid was barely seventeen at the time but he was forced to come out just to stop the harassment.”

“Yeah,” Steve said with a nod, “and I think she’s smelling blood in the water.”

“Fuck!” Eddie said softly. “She’s not after you, she after me.”

Robin pursed her lips. “I’ll lunch with Bob, Chrissy, and Jim and see if we can’t form a unified statement.”

Eddie and Steve nodded.

“So what was it that you told Eddie that made such a scene?” she asked pulling her phone out of her purse.

Eddie and Steve shared a glance and then Steve said, “That he must have slept his way through the SAG-AFTRA voters.”

Robin blinked at them for a moment before nodding solemnly. “That tracks. The media likes to portray Stevie here as a slut, but I don’t think Billy’s gone to an event with the same woman twice.”

Steve grinned, feral. “They only do that because I’m gay and Billy’s straight. Trust me if the shoe was on the other foot, they would absolutely be painting Billy with the same brush.”

“True,” Eddie said. “At least a made a disappointing moment more fun.”

“Don’t worry, darlings,” Robin said, putting her phone away and then draping her arms over each of them. “There is always the Oscars!”

~

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