The ADGK Squad

His powers get weaker the further he stretches them and kids' minds aren't developed enough for his powers to be effective. He could get in Steve's head but the most he could accomplish was some nightmares and a couple hallucinates.

But I like to think that every time was basically:

Henry: *trying his best to psychologically torture this five year old*

Granted, he's a bad imaginary friend.

Henry tries to gain a foothold in Steve's mind at too young an age. It doesn’t have the infrastructure needed for him to do real damage so he's basically relegated to bad thoughts and nightmares.

Steve kinda takes it in stride.

He likes the company even if it's imaginary.

Through Steve, Henry knows the exact age where he can be his most destructive. He also finds out that if he spends enough time in one's mind, the mind will build a defense against him so he still can't hurt Steve.

And then suddenly.

He's gone.

Little Eleven banished him to another world and locked the door behind him, and suddenly. It's quiet in Steve's head.

He's thirteen and for the first time, there is no bad voice in the back of his head.

It's so sudden and so quiet that it's almost devastating.

@damndarrenineedacigarettenow compiling it all together like that is just Steve Harrington and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad formative years. The kid is going through it.

Steve: *falls off roof, world goes black*

Henry: *yeeted so violent back into himself that he nearly falls over*

sometimes I’m reminded that there are still people who don’t know ao3 was literally created by incest shippers — and the site’s sole purpose is to 1. be completely against censorship and 2. host all kinds of dark, taboo fics that are banned on other platforms — and the first ever fic that was posted on ao3 was a fic about an incest ship from supernatural.

you are in the house that was created by freaks. for freaks (affectionate). every disgusting thing you can think of is rightfully allowed and welcomed on ao3, because they are exactly the reasons why ao3 was created in the first place.

ao3 was created because its creators got tired of censorship, they got tired of dark and taboo fics getting banned on pro-censorship platforms, and they wanted a place that was safe for ALL FICS THAT WERE DARK AND TABOO.

ao3’s main principle is being against censorship and being proship / profic.

there are some things in fiction that make me uncomfortable, but instead of shaming people who are just minding their own business and not harming anyone in real life, I choose to curate my own internet experience by blocking/muting what I don’t want to see. ao3 has excellent tagging system, so instead of being a bitch, use their tagging system properly and you won’t see the things you don’t want to see.

it’s your job to curate what you see. it’s not other people’s jobs or responsibilities to censor themselves for your personal comfort. the world does not revolve around you.

also you cannot censor “only the things you personally hate” without expecting everything else, that isn’t of conservative beliefs, to be censored too. because censorship is a slippery slope and a fascist tool. I promise you there are people who think “why do tags for queer love even exist on ao3? they’re grooming children”.

if you allow the things that you hate to be censored — because someone with enough power gets to control what other people can and cannot create/consume, it will not stop at the things that you hate.

The Harrington house.

It's a big empty house with locks that are easy to pick. Its perfect. Eddie is a literal genius for thinking of coming here.

Unrelated, Steve Harrington has the flu.

Married the love of my life at 50.

Got my Class A CDL at 59.

You've got time.

He’s been replaced or brainwashed or SOMETHING.

Jeff can’t put his finger on it, but something’s wrong with him.

He’s never the first one to arrive for band practice, let alone early. But here he was in the garage tuning his guitar.

Jeff is watching from across the room. He’s punctual. He’s been playing his music at a lower volume. He hasn’t killed anyone’s character out of spite in at least a month. And Mike actually deserved it last week.

Jeff even heard him make comments about the cubs/cardinals game to Wayne in passing.

And there’s something wrong with Eddie’s hair.

It’s not frizzy like it normally is. It looked … soft. Defined. Conditioned —

“You’re sleeping with Steve Harrington!” Jeff snapped, pointing accusingly to Eddie.

Eddie’s face dropped.

His eyes darted between their friends — when did the other guys get here?

For a moment Jeff felt bad blurting it out, catching the fear in Eddie’s eyes. But just like everything else Eddie has faced, he’s replaced the fear with confidence.

Eddie’s eyes narrowed angrily at Jeff. “So what if I am?”

Jeff shrugged, plucking at his strings. “Good for you, man. Just hit me, that’s all.”

That made Eddie physically stumble. Like he wasn’t expecting that. “What?”

“You’ve been different,” Jeff said. “Not in a bad way. Good actually. Just — made me realize it.”

The garage was silent. As if everyone was afraid to make a move.

“Is there — is there gonna be a problem?” Eddie asked, all bravo drained from his voice.

“Nope,” Jeff said. “Like that we’re not waiting on you. Bring him by sometime.”

Eddie stood still, still trying to process everything.

“How did — how did you know?”

Jeff pointed to his own curls. “Your hair. Looks nice. Figured Steve washed it, huh?”

Eddie blushed, pulling a strand over his face. There was a mumbled of a ‘yeah.’

Gareth scoffed. Eddie’s glare quickly went to him. Gareth threw his hands up defensively. “No, it’s just that if anyone can take that mane of yours, it’s Steve ‘the hair’ Harrington.”

Eddie let out a laugh. “Whatever. Just play, bozos.”

Yeah, something’s different about Eddie.

He’s happier than he’s been in years. And Steve Harrington is to thank for that.

When Steve arrives, he sits down for dinner. Wayne didn’t make anything fancy, just some canned food he dumped out and heated up on the stove.

“Where’s Eddie?” Steve asks.

“Out looking for his pet. He’ll be along in a minute. Dig in.”

When Eddie returns a few minutes later, he sets down a furry striped animal, which waddles over to the cat bowl on the floor and starts to eat.

Steve watches the animal warily. “Uhh, Eddie? I thought you said Stripes was a cat?”

“He is?” Eddie looks at Steve like he’s lost his mind.

Steve looks back at the animal. It’s very clearly not a cat. Then he looks to Wayne.

Wayne says nothing. He just keeps eating his ravioli.

BAILEY’S 3K CELEBRATION —🫶🏼 for @djotime

"The thing I loved about the character and loved that they gave me is that he kind of has a change of heart and realizes the error in his ways. And I think right now there's kind of a lot of opportunity for that, for people to sort of choose to do the right thing. The show is about a group of outcasts that come together and you can be from all walks of life. But I just love that the character kind of makes that choice. For that reason, it was a just real pleasure to play for 10 years." — Joe Keery