I've got brainrot about 2 idiots from the 80s

"I love you so much," Stephanie Harrington says, reaching out a hand to tuck some hair behind his ear. It's more an excuse to touch than to clear his face of hair. It's at a length now that will result in the tucked hair falling back into his face with barely a shake of his head.

Steve blinks up at her from where he's sat in her lap, his face far too serious for a toddler just a few hours shy of three years old.

"Your life is going to be so difficult and it's my fault. I'm so sorry," she whispers, sweeping him into a hug. He snuggles into her embrace instantly and it brings tears to her eyes. He should hate her for what she's done. Perhaps he will, once he's older and can understand what she's apologizing for.

"I'm going to tell you a story," she settles back into the chair, a big plush thing that she sits in every night to read a bedtime story to Steve, or tries too anyway. He's at the age where he's wiggly and full of energy until he drops.

"Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman. Husband and wife. And they loved each other very much," she starts, running one hand up and down on her baby's back, soothing, "and they wanted nothing more than to have a child.

"But try as they might, no child would come to them. And soon resentment began to grow. The wife, convinced that having a child would remove the resentment, set off to make a bargain with a witch, said to live deep in the woods.

"She told her husband she was going to visit her family so as not to arouse suspicion. Consorting with witches wasn't something that was done, you see."

This is the longest Steve has sat still in her lap in months. She thinks he might be asleep but continues the story anyway.

"It took her almost three weeks to find the witch, deep in the woods. Upon arrival, the witch had tried to turn away the wife. But the wife was persistent. 'Please,' she begged the witch, 'if we can have a child then my husband will love me again.'

"The witch was not moved by this plea. 'You would bring a child into a loveless marriage?' and the wife argued that once they had a child, their marriage would no longer be loveless. The witch disagreed but the wife would not be deterred.

"'What would you give up to have this child?' the witch asked after being pestered by the wife for almost a week. And the wife had said anything.

"'Anything is dangerous,' the witch said. 'I can give you the means to have a child, but the universe will decide the price.' And so, the wife agreed, and the witch pressed a folded piece of parchment into the wife's hand.

"When she finally returned home, she had been gone for eight long weeks. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, they say, and husband and wife reunited. Still, the wife waited three more months before preforming the ritual the witch had pressed into her palm.

"Soon, they had a child, a daughter. But with her arrival came the universe's price. A life blessing is not an easy thing to give, and the price for life is the highest to pay. Free Will was that price. And when the daughter turned three, she learned her daughter also paid the price. Her daughter, and her daughter's daughter, and her daughter's daughter's son. Forever more. The wife, now mother, was angry to learn this. Why should her child have to suffer for her own sins?

"She told her husband what she had done. She had to, you see, because how else could he be expected to raise a child that would do everything you told her to? Words would need to be picked carefully.

"It was years later before the mother could track the witch down again, to demand the witch undo the curse. 'I made the bargain, why must my child also suffer the consequences?'

"'You said anything,' the witch responded, 'and I told you that was dangerous. It was foolish of you to think your actions would not affect others. All actions do.'

"The mother said, 'can it not be undone?' and the witch said, 'All curses can be broken.' When the mother asked how, the witch just looked at her and said, 'go away, and do not seek me again.' And the mother had no choice but to obey."

Steve still has not stirred on her lap and when she looks down, she can see he is asleep. Even if Steve had stayed awake for the whole story, she knows she'll have to retell it to him when he's older. When he'll remember all of it. Perhaps she should write it down, too, just in case.

Steve dusts himself off, flips his collar up to hide Eddie's enthusiasm, and rounds the trailer where he runs directly into Wayne Munson.

There is a lot of things that Steve could've said to explain why he's luring behind this man's house. He could've been cool or smooth or honest, but no.

Nope.

Steve opened his mouth and asked, "Would you like to talk about our lord and savior, Jesus Christ?"

Wayne stares.

Wayne knows that this kid is full of shit because he knows this is the kid that's been leaving his muddy shoe prints all over the back of his house so...

He says, "Yeah, kid. Go ahead. Tell me about him."

Re-read chapter 14

Start from the beginning

Steve finds it easier to look down at the flower again. They’ve come so far in the past year. Explored the valley down below, and further, more remote parts of the kingdom. Rekindled their relationship with the neighboring countries. In a few days, they’re going to leave the borders of their kingdom for the first time and travel north, to visit Eddie’s mother’s home country.

But Steve has never told him about what happened in the in-between space. Eddie mentioned that he didn’t feel or see anything much. That it just felt like floating in the dark, with a warm, comforting presence keeping him safe. That, the longer he was there, the more he realized that he couldn’t stay forever. That he had almost decided to move on when he heard a voice, and felt a hand in his, and then the next thing he knows is waking up on the throne, with Steve clutching his shrouded body to his chest and the vines parting around them to set them free.

Steve thinks it’s unfair, that the magic allowed him to meet her when it’s so glaringly evident that Eddie would give everything to see her one final time. So he hasn’t said anything.

Tag list:

posting these frames separately because they were the first or second to be done and therefore are much higher quality and also because they're my favourites. lyrics from kind love by bears in trees. extra lineart below.

✨ Before and After Gif Challenge - Steve Harrington Edition ✨

So, it's been a while since I've done one of these. I've been stockpiling my favourite gif colouring psd's, and as you can guess, there was a lot of Steve, so he's getting his own special before and after set 💜 I'm gonna tag some of my awesome gifmaker mutuals under the cut, there's absolutely no pressure if you don't wanna take part. You can also find previous versions I've done of this challenge here 💜

He doesn’t get to have them very often because Wayne hates buffalo chicken, and since he’s being forced to attend this ridiculous event, he may as well take Hawkins High (and its affiliates) for all they’re worth.

He doesn’t expect to be approached, anyway. No one has ever wanted anything serious with him. Just a quick fuck now and then, usually in shadowed corridors or out in the middle of nowhere where they wouldn’t be seen with ‘the Freak’.

But someone does approach him. Steve Harrington, of all people.

Eddie looks up at him, chicken grease smeared across his face, and wonders why the Universe hates him.

Here he is, finally being approached by an alpha, and he looks like a fucking slob.

But Steve doesn’t look at him with disgust. He sits across from Eddie, smiling warmly. “Hi. Great party, huh?”

Steve’s voice drips with sarcasm, pulling a chuckle from Eddie’s throat.

“Yeah. Fan-fucking-tastic,” he agrees, rolling his eyes and giving his head an amused shake.

Eddie’s heard from Dustin that Steve has changed since high school. Matured. That he’s not a massive douchebag anymore.

“Maybe I should grab some of those,” he says, pulling Eddie out of his thoughts. “I mean, you certainly look like you’re enjoying them.” He’s pointing at the chicken wings.

“Oh. Yeah. I like buffalo wings. These are… fine. Could be better.” He tries to smile back, but it feels weird on his face.

“Wait here.” Steve jumps up, making a beeline for one of the buffet tables set up around the auditorium.

When he comes back, he’s got two plates laden with food. He sets one down in front of Eddie and the other one across from him, where he then takes a seat.

“Why are you doing this?” Eddie asks.

“Doing what, exactly? Why did I bring you food?” An innocent smile curves his plump lips. “Why not? It’s all free anyway.”

“No, I mean, why did you approach me? You could have your pick of the omegas in here. So why waste your time on me?”

“Oh? Am I wasting my time, Eddie?”

“I mean… I didn’t come here to get snapped up by an alpha. I just didn’t have a choice.”

Steve nods, taking a bite of his own chicken. “Yeah, same here. Most of the girls in this room I’ve already tried to get with. About half of them hate my guts, and the other half think I’m a player.”

“Are you?”

“Used to be,” Steve corrects him. “Now, I just… I want to find something real. Someone I can settle down with. A mate.”

“Well, allegedly, you’re in the right place,” Eddie laughs. “But maybe barking up the wrong tree. Like I said, I’m not looking.”

“That’s okay. I just want to talk.”

And so they did. And when they were finally allowed to leave this godforsaken event, they hung out in the parking lot, talking and smoking.

“This was fun, Eddie,” Steve says, smiling as he blows a curl of smoke from between his parted lips. “Maybe we can do it again sometime… in a nicer place.”

“I— I think I’d like that, actually.” Eddie smiles back at him. This time, it doesn’t feel awkward or forced. It feels natural.

“Perfect.” Steve grabs Eddie’s hand, jotting something on his palm. “Call me when you have time.”

“O-okay…” He nods numbly, staring at the phone number on his palm.

“I’ll be seeing you, Eddie.” Steve leans in and pecks his cheek.

Then, he climbs into his car and drives away, leaving Eddie standing in the parking lot with his hand over his fevered face.

id : a digital painting of eddie munson playing his guitar in a mucha-like style and background in mainly blue and red tones. the very background is covered in clouds in shades of grey, purple and red, withe the darkest at the top. directly behind eddie are two frames, the first is a circle, pinched at the bottom, in which silver letters spell "most metal concert in the upside down" on a dark blue background. the second frame is rectangular with a sort of hourglass shaped opening, the previous circle slotting into the upper part. this second frame, from top to bottom, is filled with swirls of nightshade flowers, dark brown bats, black thick vines, demodogs, and more nightshade. red lighting comes from the right./end id

i have fought and i have won! here is the best colour version of mucha eddie my little brain could create (with slight variations under the cut). thank you for the nice words during this whole process 👍 highly highly reccomend you zoom in if you have a small screen.

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest.

Go With The Flow

Prompt #10 - Waterbed | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: E | CW: Sex | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Established Relationship, Banter, Eddie Gets a Secondhand Waterbed, Steve is Less Than Thrilled

"I don't know," Steve says, standing in the hallway, holding up the middle of the garden hose, as Eddie drags it through the house, thanks to their propped open back door.

"C'mon, live a little, Harrington," Eddie says, forging ahead, "It was a steal."

Steve snorts, like he isn't sure this thing was worth anything. Let alone what Eddie paid.

He couldn't be more wrong. This is luxury. This is how rich people live. 

At least Eddie thinks so. 

"Do the rich all have waterbeds?" 

"Absolutely not," Steve says. "My mother would find this the height of tacky." 

"Well, then. We better get two."

Steve chuckles, and Eddie knows he's got him. 

Now that Steve is begrudgingly on board, this should go much smoother. 

They own a waterbed now.

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest

Prompt: Day 8 - Where's the beef? | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: Ableist language | POV: Steve | Relationships: Steddie | Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley, disabled Eddie Munson, ableism, protective Steve, mild angst, they're in love, happy ending I promise

Gareth doesn’t usually wander into Family Video without one of his merry band of misfits in tow, but apparently Steve has been blessed today.

“Eddie’s job sucks.”

Steve snorts. “Well, duh, he works in a burger joint huffing grease and frying mystery meat all day. Of course it sucks.”

“I mean, they’re being assholes to him.”

Steve straightens. “Who, the customers?” And hadn’t that been exactly what Steve had worried about when Eddie got the job? But he needed the  money, needed to get his independence back and Wendy’s didn’t seem to care about the Spring Break bullshit. 

The customers, on the other hand.