They Knew What They Were Doing

They knew what they were doing

this is killing me

This has me cackling 😂

something something about rockstar eddie on tour telling everyone left and right about his sweetheart, his stevie, the light of his life, his sweet lil baby. getting more and more excited about when he's going to see his sweetheart at a concert soon.

the roadies and techs are kinda excited about it - placing bets on what kind of girl could have big bad rockstar eddie munson this starry eyed. with the way eddie is going on they are absolutely convinced that she's some tiny little slip of a girl that wears pastel pink everywhere and has never ever done anything bad in her life.

the big day arrives, everyone is excited to meet eddie's lil princess...but instead "sweet little babygirl stevie" is some big jock dude in a polo shirt and lightwash jeans who carries around equipment like it weighs nothing and who swears like a sailor when someone nearly drops an amp on his foot.

learning how to become fluent in pet names with the girls

I'm not crying you are

It's weird, Eddie thinks. When Eddie and Steve holds hands, they intertwine it together. However, almost always, Steve ends up untangling it, his hand creeping up and holding him on his wrist instead. It makes Eddie feel like a child, with a mother holding on to him.

He thinks it might be his rings, thinks it might be annoying Steve. But then, he remembers Steve telling him how much he loves them.

He thinks it might be because he sweats when they hold hands for too long. But then, he remembers Steve trying to hug him after work and telling him he couldn't care less if Eddie's sweating or smells like oil.

He thinks it might be— no. He doesn't— Steve might be ashamed of him? And doesn't want to be seen with him, their hands slot together so perfectly the whole world may crumble? No. That's definitely not right. Steve is open to the people who matter, tells Dustin of their last endeavor, tells Robin about how good Eddie is to him, tells Hop that Eddie is good and kind and everything to him. He kisses him in the Wheeler basement, slots his head on his shoulders in between the empty aisles of Family Video, takes Eddie in his arms in the trailer in front of Wayne. That can't be it.

Eddie finds out in the middle of a campaign. Steve, Robin, Max and El hanging out on the sides while the boys busy themselves with defense and strategy. He didn't mean to look Steve’s way, but like a boat, his eyes will always find his lighthouse, bright and guiding in the dark.

Steve is holding Max's wrist, just like he always does with him. At first, it's weird because Max doesn't really like prolonged physical touch. They stay like that for half of the game, whenever Eddie looks back, Steve's hand is still wrapped around Max's wrist.

When Eddie calls for a break, and Steve rushes upstairs to help the boys get a snack, Eddie sits beside Max.

"Hey, Red." Max gives him a nod of acknowledgment as she reads the latest comics.

"Can I ask you a question?" Max hums in agreement, eyes still glued on the page.

"Why was Steve holding your wrist like that?" Max freezes, eyes looking up to meet Eddie's. Eddie is aware of how it sounds like, so he word vomits, "I— I am just curious. He does the same for me and I've never understood why."

Max squints at him behind her thick glasses, "It helps him calm."

Eddie tilts his head in confusion, "Calm?"

Max takes his hands, wrapping a hand around his wrist, just directly above where his pulse is, "When he found us after the Upside Down, we were barely alive. Now, he feels our pulse and it's a reminder that we're alive, we're okay. It calms him down, helps him stay in the moment."

It hits him like a bucket of cold water. How Steve makes it his mission to burrow his head on Eddie's chest, directly above his beating heart, his hand always wrapped just above his pulse, Steve staring at his eyes first thing in the morning like he's looking for something in it.

It's a reminder that Eddie's alive, that Max's alive, that they're all alive and that they get to live and breathe in peace without the impending doom looming over the edge.

Eddie never brings it up. He lets Steve hold his pulse, splay a hand on his chest to feel his heart, lets Steve fall asleep to the sound of Eddie breathing.

Eddie's never gonna bring it up. Steve can do it for the rest of their life for all he cares.

It's the least he can do.

The Gov agent just got his world turned upside down(hehe get it?) By Steve in a pastel polo 😂

there's an unofficial club in hawkins, indiana.

i saw steve harrington take out an eldritch monster with a blunt object and it changed me on a molecular level.

founding members: nancy wheeler (enthusiastic) & jonathan byers (highly reluctant)

chair(wo)man: nancy wheeler (former), eddie munson (freshly crowned)

other members include: max mayfield, erica sinclair

also: some random government agent who, in the middle of the apocalypse, saw steve in some pretty pastell polo, thought "wtf is that pretty boy doing here" and then got his shit rocked when mr. pastell-polo went to town on some monsters with a spiked nail bat.

Steve and trauma just mix so well together

Headcanon that Steve's life used to be weird and traumatic. He had 2 years of normal with Tommy and Carol before monsters came into his life. (This wasn't supposed to be this long)

Before being King of Hawkins, he lived in Vegas. He basically lived at his friends nightclub and spent a lot of time at a casino or bartending for his friend. Gambling was the only thing he had good luck with. He had the worst luck with just about everything else. He had a lot of free time a picked up some instruments. He now plays guitar, harp, piano, and the viola. He also spent 3 years in military school where he got good with archery. (Don't ask me why archery idfk I just like archery okay?)

Before Vegas, he lived in Scotland. He moved there at the age of 8 and moved to Vegas when he was 11. It was a short moment but it was awesome. He spent all his time on a ship, taking sips of rum every few hours. He learned a bit of Scottish Gaelic and folklore. He also learned how to braid hair, make flower crowns, and "speak" to birds.

He was born in France. His mom is French and his dad is from Spain. He speaks both French and Spanish along with English. It took a while but he eventually learned to hide his Freanch accent. When he says "two" you can sort of hear it, but most of the party thinks he says it weird.

Steve also sees ghosts. He is sensitive to spirits and gets overwhelmed in places like graveyards. He had to deal with it to save Max. His first encounter was when he was 5. It was 12 am and his dad was gone. His mom was out for the weekend. She went to visit her sister. A haunting melody was being played on piano. Steve walked down the stairs and saw a pale lady with paper white hair and a white, Victorian gown on. She was sitting at the piano. Steve saw her as clear as day and she saw him. He found her calming. He watched as she played for nights on end. She played every night at midnight. She stopped at 3 am. Steve usually fell asleep at 1. She would put him into his bed again and go back to continue. They were friendly. She only said one thing to him, "take care of yourself." He smiled. At least one adult cared.

**for this next part tw for abuse, neglect, and and eating disorder**

His dad, Izan, was physically abusive along with being negligent. The worst thing he did was cut a 14-year- old Steve's arm with a knife because he got into a fight. He was defending his friend after a guy called he a whore. Izan would cover Steve with bruises. The more Steve cried, the more he would get punched. He wasn't any better to his wife, Amia, either.

Until she caught Izan cheating, Amia was a great mother. She sung Steve to sleep with a French lullaby, taught how to spin thread, and made sure he was okay. After she went to surprise her husband and found him kissing his secretary, she grew cold, distant. She stopped putting herself between her husband and son and stopped going out of her way to speak to Steve either. Late arguments ending with threats to leave or a slap hitting her cheek made her so unbelievably angry. She went on business trips, leaving Steve with her sister.

Steve was 6 when she left. Not really knowing what was happening. When he was 7, a man broke into his Aunts house, thinking she wasn't home. It was supposed to be a simple robbery. His aunt died. He took the gun out of his hands and pointed it at him. His cousin, 5-years-old, called the police. His hand slipped and he pulled the trigger. The man was fine. Just a flesh wound. However, he can't help but recall the man's arm bleeding infront of him before he was taken into custody. The scream he let out still haunts Steve to this day.

Then they moved. They moved again. Vegas was relatively normal. Despite some fights and his dad getting worse. He also was 14/15 living a nightclub that was filled with strippers. He's good at rolling dice though. He sang here. He learned to dance and how to do contortion. It was mostly a time of self-discovery that would be useless in a year or two. Military school was tough though. He spent ages 11-13 there. He didn't really know his exact age so he used his friends, who were also born in 1966, and just stole their age.

His parents didn't celebrate anything with him. Especially not his birthday. He figured it out when he got his driver's license and got it conformed when he got his ID. Turns out he was born on Christmas day. He still doesn't celebrate it, but it is nice to know when he turns what age.

Tommy and Carol seemed to not care for Him. They only cared for Harrington or King Steve. They did know about his dad, and Carol allowed him to use concealer to cover up the bruises he would get when Izan came home. Tommy allowed him to stay over a lot on those very long weeks. It was fine but he wasn't Him. He wasn't who he was when he was free. He only felt like Him when he was outside. He didn't have to be doing a sport. Just sitting in a tree talking to birds, jumping from vines and into lakes, or seeing the rainfall whilst on his porch was good enough.

As the upside down came, he got pumped. It was thrilling. He didn't like being hurt, but the adrenaline rush as he slayed monster after monster made up for it. He wanted to go back to normal; he really did. He couldn't. His life was never normal. It never would be. He always saw ghosts and he was always surrounded with some sort of excitement or big news. His parents wouldn't allow him to be a normal kid. He knew that would affect him as an adult, and it did.

He had walls up. Nobody knew about his past. Short mentions of hid father was all he would tell know. Nobody can know. Sure, he might have sounded kind of stupid or crazy. He didn't care, everything was crazy now. Monsters were crazy. He knows what will come eventually.

"Steve, talk to us. We know you and this isn't you"

There it was. The three words. "We know you." It had almost the impact has other three words he's been dreaded to hear again. "I love you." He shouldn't be loved. Not by people who don't know anything about him

"You don't know anything about me!"

As he said it to Robin, his eyes became filled with tears. Why couldn't he be open? Why was he so bad at telling people things?

He thought they would walm away. Give him space. And they did. On the way out Eddie told him.

"That's because you don't tell us anything about you."

Steve looked at the ground. He knew he fucked up. He always fucks up. They wouldn't come back to him. No, not this time.

"I will.."

He didn't think before speaking. The words hurt to say. He to,d them He would be vulnerable. He promised to himself that once he said he would do something, he would,

"When you want me to."

Dustin stopped.

"Anything?"

Oh God. The pain in his voice. The way he couldn't even look at Steve. Being Steve Harrington sucked.

"Anything."

His breath shook as he forced the words out.

"Tell us, Harrington, why?"

Eddie was the only person in the group that made eye contact during this argument.

Steve looked confused.

"Why what?"

"Why be King Steve?"

Steve hated that name.

"I..don't know? To feel normal I guess. Like everything was fine... and that my life was great?"

Eddie didn't really like that answer. He felt as though Steve didn't get it. Steve didn't get what a shitty childhood experience was like. He had everything people could ask for. He lost it

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? YOUR LIFE IS GREAT! YOU'RE RICH, GOOD-LOOKING, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, PEOPLE LOVE STEVE HARRINGTON, YOUR PARENTS ARE GONE SO YOU CAN DO WHAT YOH WANT? SO WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT? EVERY-"

"Eddie..."

Steve couldn't cry. If his dad found out, he would be dead.

"You want to know everything?"

He continued in a calm, but rather broken, voice.

"Yeah, tell us all you had to worry about before this."

Eddie's voice was firm. Steve told them every bit. The pressure to be perfect. The abuse. Every move he made had to be flawless. His father sounded terrifying. He was.

"He stabbed you?"

"It's nothing to worry about."

Steve's eyes said enough. They said that he was on the verge of tears and that he was gonna be petty.

Nancy and Robin felt sort of guilty. Nothing was their fault, but how couldn't they see it? The fake confidence. The pretending.

Dustin looked at Steve for the first time in the past hour.

"Are you...okay? Now?"

Steve realized he forgot the censor the part where Tommy made him stop eating or only eat two bites before going to throw up.

"Better, not the best, but better."

Why did Dustin care? He didn't. He couldn't. Eddie had this look of terror. He didn't know.

"I'm sorry I yelled.."

Steve smiled.

"It's fine, I should've told you some things."

"You didn't have to tell us anything."

Robin ran to hug him.

"I love you."

Tears streaming down her face. There it was. The other words. Dustin and Nancy loomed at each other. They ran and hugged Steve as well. Eddie followed. Steve's life wasn't normal that was for sure. The people in his life weren't normal. Hell, one has superpowers and he can see ghosts. Even if they might be a little crazy, he knew he could rely on them. All he had to do was trust them.