in my defense, i am queer

The Hawkins dating pool isn't huge so its not like he has a tone of guys who actually want to go out but hes made out with a 3rd of the basketball team.

eddie asks why he cant sleep and steve- being too tired and concussed and annoyed at eddie's prying to make up a lie- tells the truth.

"demogorgon" he says

eddie sputters- "im sorry what?"

"demogorgon. an interdimensional monster wrecked my shit and now i cant sleep. now do you have the weed or not"

they look at each other for a solid minute and steve starts to realize how much he definitely just fucked up, then eddie bursts out in laughter

"demogorgon? how do you even.... jesus christ. harrington- as much as i hate to do it, ill give you points for creativity on that one... anyway, how much do you want?"

they work out the deal and dont bring it up again, but both spend the rest of the day thinking about it. eddie- wondering what hidden depths the mind of steve harrington hold that he is casually referencing dungeons and dragons during a drug deal, and steve- thinking about how goddamn good it felt to tell the truth, even though eddie didnt believe it.

“No,” Steve says because he never reads Keith’s memos. This is mainly because Keith doesn’t write memos and Robin is lying but still, “What’s it say?”

“Just something about a new loyalty perk. It’s called the ‘movie for two’ deal.”

“What is that, a buy one, get one?”

“It’s where select customers can take an employee home with them to watch a movie. It’s twenty bucks more.”

“….Are you serious? That’s insane,” Steve says. “What if the person is a certified creep?”

“I guess that’s why it’s for select customers,” Robin shrugs. “Oh, look. A select customer.”

“What have I been selected for?” Eddie asks as he saunters to the counter with a movie.

“This insane new thing Keith is doing,” Steve tells him. “If you pay twenty bucks, one of us will come to your house and watch a movie with you.”

“And it has to be Steve,” Robin cuts in. “I have plans tonight. With my mom.”

“Oh, uh…”

Robin doesn’t have to look but she does. Both of them are blushing so she sighs, “Oh, come on, Eddie. Pay the twenty bucks for Steve’s sake. What if the next person that comes is weird on a bad way? What if no one takes him up on it and he gets in trouble?”

“I…okay,” Eddie nods. He sits twenty bucks down on the counter, “Looks like we’re watching a movie tonight, Harrington.”

“Thanks, man.”

“We close soon,” Robin points out . “Steve can go with you now. I’ll close up.”

They have a bit of back and forth but ultimately leave. Robin turns around to where Dustin has been doing his homework and grins, “Told ya I could get them on a date in less than ten minutes.”

he stays until the sun slips down and both sides of the tape have played out, leaving it by the headstone with a soft huff of “still think it’s shit, munson” before walking back to his car.

Eddie: I saw a bird today

Steve: …what kind of bird? Was it big?

Eddie: Yeah, it was pretty big.

Steve: Did it have a face or just a bunch of teeth? Did it look like a fucked up bat with a tail?

Eddie:

Eddie: Steve, what the fuck?

Eddie, a day later: Take two.

Eddie: Stevie, I saw another bird.

Steve, suspicious: Did it fly away or just…stay close by?

Eddie:

Eddie: Birds are not spies for the government.

Steve: They talk, Eddie!

Steve: They listen to what you say and then they repeat it! Like a spy.

Steve: And suddenly everyone is seeing notable birds, puh-lease. You saw a bird. Dustin saw a bird. Mike, Lucas, Max, Robin saw a bird.

Steve: It’s suspicious.

Eddie:

Eddie: It was a crow.

Hey folks! Google is fucking you via sneaky enshittification again!

Want the shit in your google drive to load instantly again, instead of taking for-fucking-ever?

Open your gdrive (web OR app) Settings > Manage Apps

Gemini was checked "use as default" (and i sure the fuck didn't set it that way, this was a silent push)

mushroom: can you feel your heart burning? can you feel the struggle within? the fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. you cannot kill me in a way that matters

They're pretty sure it's the dynamic, because while most people would think that Eddie would be used to horror and Steve, the newbie to the genre, would be shaking in his boots -- it ends up being the opposite. Eddie acts like a scared, jumpy cat even when it's a movie he's seen before, whereas Steve is completely straight-faced and unbothered during every single film.

At some point they post a separate video of them just talking because, as someone with a decent amount of parental trauma, Steve has a LOT of thoughts on The Shining and eventually Doctor Sleep (which Eddie can relate to, of course).

It turns out their fans like hearing them break down the movies even more, giving more of their thoughts in detail, so they start sharing a longer video of them talking about whatever movie they've just watched, with Eddie sharing a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Eventually, when they get big enough, they're able to talk to some of the people that worked on the movies and include them in the breakdown videos.

They get some comments here and there about their relationship, people talking about how in sync they are, or how cute they are together, though that's quickly shut down by others saying things like "stop shipping real people!" and "why can't two guys just be friends anymore??"

Of course, that's all shut down a couple of years in when they post a video of Steve and Eddie going to an early walkthrough of a haunted house inspired by Eddie's favorite horror movie (take your pick).

They have a cameraman (probably Robin) follow them through the haunted house, documenting every time Eddie screams and how he basically clings to Steve the entire time. But then they come out the other side and Eddie is beaming and gushing about how fun it was and how cool everything looked.

and the party immediately closes ranks because that is their babysitter okay that is their protector and eddie is cool but how do they know he'll be good for steve? steve is constantly getting hurt he needs someone cool

#eddie walking up to steve when will and dustin come out of nowhere fast talking and getting steves attention #lucas max and erica are tugging at his sleeves while el deadstares eddie and mike flips him off as the party walks off with Their steve #robins laughing her ass off #eddies So confused bc they still play D&D like normal? the partys still totally cool with him until steve shows up #and suddenly eddie is Public Enemy Number One

and my favorite part: